A process and system for substantially isoelectric separation of an oil
sand slurry is disclosed and described. The process can include mining
oil sand, crushing the oil sands, forming a slurry of the oil sands, and
transporting the oil sands slurry to a sinusoidal pipe. The sinusoidal
pipe acts to digest the slurry from which bitumen can be separated using
a hydrocyclone. Overflow from the hydrocyclone can be further treated
using a revolving oleophilic device from which bitumen is recovered.
Various optional further treatments can be used to dewater and/or further
treat the bitumen and other process streams. The use of caustic soda,
long-term tailing ponds, and froth flotation can be avoided resulting in
an effective production of oil using less water than currently
conventional processes.