Tar sands are primarily, aggregates of sands, clay that is rich in minerals, heavy oil and sometimes water. The Nigerian tar sand belt lies on the onshore areas of the Eastern Dahomey (Benin) Basin, and extends right up to parts of Edo State, Mid-Western Nigeria. Extraction techniques involved heating of the tar sand samples to a temperature of 140oF in order to reduce the apparent viscosity of the tar sand. This method of extraction makes use of a coupling agent known as sulphunated fatty acid, alkali metal salt. Results show that the volume of oil extracted from 50g of tar sand ranges between 1.8ml to 2.5ml; while the water residue is quite low, ranging from 2.1ml to about 3.86ml. The tar sands here possess a relatively large quantity of naphthenes, aromatics and asphaltenes that are similar to conventional oil. When compared with the quality of the Canadian tar, which produces 168l of oil per day from 2,000kg of tar sand, this makes the Nigerian tar sand useful alternative source of petroleum hydrocarbon and a potential feedstock for petrochemical industries.
