Mechanical deaeration of bituminous froth

This invention relates to a method for mechanically deaerating aerated bitumen froth to reduce its air content to render it pumpable. More particularly it relates to mechanically shearing aerated bitumen froth by either passing the froth through a confining passageway and shearing the froth with an impeller while it is in the passageway or temporarily retaining the aerated froth in a tank and circulating it repeatedly through a pump. Aerated bitumen froth obtained from oil sands must be deaerated so that it can be pumped through a pipeline. Mechanical shearing is effective to deaerate bitumen froth to an air content of below 10 volume percent. Mechanical deaeration of bitumen froth can be achieved either by passing the froth through a confining passageway and shearing the froth with an impeller while it is in the passageway or temporarily retaining the aerated froth in a tank and circulating it repeatedly through a pump.