Abstract: A process for recovering solid waste from produced water in an oil sands system utilizing a fluidized bed, comprising: transferring an amount of produced water into a solution tank, producing an enriched salt solution in the solution tank, transferring the enriched salt solution using at least one spray nozzle into a fluidized bed of a fluidized bed spray granulator, heating the fluidized bed with a gas, growing granules within the fluidized bed through evaporative drying of salt from the enriched salt solution, extracting the granules from the fluidized bed spray granulator to produce a granulator product, separating at least a portion of the granulator product into at least two fractions, and removing at least a portion of at least one of the at least two fractions from the system as solid waste brine product.

Abstract: A centrifuge (2) for separating solids from liquid of a slurry with a conveyor (12) having a hub (14) rotatable about an axis (34) and at a helical blade (16) extending axially and radially from the hub. A bowl (4) including a cylindrical section (6) extending from an upstream end of the conveyor and a conically diverging screen section (10) extending to a downstream end of the conveyor extends about the conveyor and is rotatable about the axis. The conically diverging screen section includes an angle (40) that reduces the coefficient of friction of the solids to allow a cake formed of the solids to slide in a controlled manner forward on the conically diverging screen section with minimal back pressure, but without allowing the solid cake to break loose from the conically diverging screen section and slide out of the centrifuge in an uncontrolled manner.