Mineralogical and chemical composition of petrologic end members of Alberta oil sands Marek Osacky a,b,⇑ , Mirjavad Geramian a , Douglas G. Ivey a , Qi Liu a , Thomas H. Etsell a a Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada b Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina, 84215 Bratislava, Slovak Republic highlights  Bitumen removal was the most effective in the coarse grained quartz-rich samples.  The toluene insoluble organic carbon was associated mainly with the clay minerals.  The quantitative mineralogical analysis correlated well with chemical composition of the oil sands. article info Article history: Received 21 June 2012 Received in revised form 23 May 2013 Accepted 29 May 2013 Available online 11 June 2013 Keywords: Oil sands Petrologic end members Clay minerals Mineral composition Elemental analysis abstract The Alberta oil sands ores are a combination of four petrologically different kinds of rocks, called ‘‘end members’’, deposited in marine and estuarine sedimentary environments. The combination of the differ- ent end members affects the properties of the oil sands. Applying organic solvents for bitumen extraction from the oil sands is an alternative to the current commercial hot water extraction process. Certain min- erals (mainly clay minerals) in the oil sands may affect processability of the ore during non-aqueous extraction. The aim of the present study was to perform mineral and chemical characterization of the four end members in order to better understand the mineralogical and geochemical factors affecting bitumen extraction and subsequent solvent recovery from the extraction tailings. The as-received end members and their different size fractions were examined using XRD, QXRD, FTIR, ICP-MS and C, H, N and S content analysis. The results revealed variable amounts of toluene insoluble organic carbon in the samples after bitumen removal. The amount was higher in the finer size fractions, indicating its association mainly with the clay minerals. Bitumen removal was the most effective in the coarse grained quartz-rich samples containing a minimal amount of the clay minerals. The four end members consisted of quartz, clay minerals (kaolinite, illite, mixed layer illite–smectite and chlorite), car- bonates (calcite, dolomite and siderite), K-feldspar, TiO 2 minerals (anatase and rutile) and pyrite. The highest relative amount of mixed layer illite–smectite was found in the finest fractions (<0.2 lm). The expandability (S XRD ) of illite–smectite was 10 ± 2%. The quantitative mineralogical analysis correlated well with chemical composition analysis of the petrologic end members of the oil sands. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Alberta oil sands deposits represent the third largest re- serve of oil on the planet [1,2]. The deposits consist of bitumen (4–18 wt%), inorganic materials (55–80 wt%) and water (2–15 wt%) [3]. Shallow oil sands ores are mined by surface mining methods and bitumen is recovered by water extraction processes. For deep deposits, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technol- ogy is used. The most significant shortcomings of water-based bitumen extraction are high fresh water and energy consumption. Alternative non-aqueous solvent bitumen extraction processes have been investigated since the mid 1960s [4–8], due to their po- tential advantages such as high bitumen recovery even from low grade oil sands ores and the elimination of slow settling, sludge tailing ponds with stable suspensions. The oil sands composition is one of the most important factors affecting aqueous and non-aqueous bitumen extraction and waste management. In the oil sands industry, it is generally recognized that the coarse sands do not cause any problem throughout extrac- tion process. On the other hand, nano and microsize minerals, mainly clay minerals, are most detrimental [9–13]. These minerals 0016-2361/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2013.05.099 ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2V4, Canada. Tel.: +1 780 492 3064; fax: +1 780 492 2881. E-mail address: osacky@ualberta.ca (M. Osacky). Fuel 113 (2013) 148–157 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Fuel journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel