EXPRESS: Mid-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy of Oil Sands Minerals Based on Tunable Quantum Cascade Lasers:

: Minerals play an important role in the oil sands extraction efficiency. It is thus important to assess the major mineral abundance in oil sands ores. This paper presents the application of tunable quantum cascade lasers for mid-infrared reflectance spectroscopy on oil sands minerals. The investigations and results show a new tool to determine oil sands mineral type and to determine potentially quartz and clay contents.