ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,636,590, issued on May 26.
"Process to treat heavy oil or bitumen or mixtures of dilutants and heavy oil or bitumen" was invented by Ian Donald Gates (Calgary, Canada) and Jingyi Wang (Calgary, Canada).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A heavy oil or bitumen or mixtures of heavy oil and bitumen or mixtures of a dilutant and heavy oil or bitumen is treated to separate components of the feed oil and induce reactions that crack the heavy oil or bitumen into light components. A heated inclined dual tube unit arrangement where feed oil enters the arrangement through the inner tube and which opens partway up the outer tube. Vaporized oil continues ...