  Pipeline transportation is a vital method for conveying crushed oil sand ores
and tailings in the oil sands industry. This study focuses on enhancing
economic benefits by exploring the separation of valuable bitumen residues from
coarse sand tailings within hydrotransport pipelines. Employing
three-dimensional transient Eulerian-Eulerian computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) simulations coupled with a population balance model (PBM), we examine the
aggregation and breakage of bitumen droplets under various flow conditions. The
CFD-PBM model's accuracy is validated against field measurements of velocity
profiles and pressure drops. Our findings reveal that higher slurry velocities
lead to intensified particle-bitumen interactions, resulting in reduced
aggregated bitumen droplet sizes at the pipeline's core. Additionally,
variations in bitumen fraction cause shifts in the distribution of coarse
particles along the pipe's vertical axis, with increased aggregation and larger
droplets in the upper region. Notably, we demonstrate that smaller bubbles
promote a more uniform distribution of bitumen compared to larger bubbles.
These insights provide valuable knowledge for optimizing bitumen recovery
processes, facilitating the integration of pipeline dynamics with downstream
separation and extraction units.
