Energy transition: not for the faint-hearted

Shell’s CEO shares some thoughts on the energy system and developing sustainable technologies, saying, “The time is ripe for an Energy New Deal.”

Full Story [The Globe and Mail]

Canada’s manufacturers among least carbon-efficient, energy agency says

Canada, used to facing international scorn over its climate-unfriendly oilsands industry, is now being criticized for having one of the world’s least carbon-efficient manufacturing industries

Full Story [The Vancouver Sun]

Canadians not as green as they think

So You Think You Can Be Green, Canada? If that were a new hit show, it would be hard to find any winners.  At least, according to a new study commissioned by Cossette Communication and Summerhill.

The survey says Canadians are not nearly as green as they think, resulting in an enormous “Green Gap.”  That means that while Canadians genuinely care about the environment, they aren’t making appropriate lifestyle changes in areas where they want to make a difference.

Need an example?  Take water bottles. Those polled reported using reusable water bottles 80 per cent of the time. That’s pretty good, right?  However, according to Environment Canada, 65 million empty water bottles are added to our landfills every year.

The truth is, Canadians may think green, but could be doing a much better job of putting belief into practice. The study shows they’re aware they should be using transit, but still don’t; they support harnessing solar energy, but they don’t – and so on.

A similar survey was conducted in 2008, demonstrating that Americans misunderstand key phrases, and are subject to “greenwashing.” In Canada, women and Quebecers are most likely to take a product’s greenness into consideration when making a purchase.

But overall, most Canadian consumers are leery of greenwashed labels, and don’t necessarily trust Green Certification on products, according to Nick Cowling of Optimum Public Relations.  “They don’t want to be fooled”.

Perhaps a fear of being sold a bill of bad (brown?) goods has turned Canadians away?

Wednesday Words

Slow pyrolysis | Thermal conversion of biomass to fuel by slow heating to less than 450°C in the absence of oxygen

The Great Oil Sands Journey Part 2

Do I have to separate you three?

So now that you know the origins of the sands, what then of the process that brings the oil from the sand to your car?  Two important areas of discussion around this include the separation process, which we discuss this week, and next week it’s the upgrading/refining process, which is part three of this five part series.

Wells to Wheels
Part two of a five-part series

First, in order to appreciate the great deal of work that goes into this process, let’s look at the relationship between the bitumen, the water and the sand on a smaller scale. As you can see, water, bitumen and sand are pretty tight.

As you could probably imagine, having sand and water mixed with the bitumen just won’t do. Not for our purposes anyways. About 200 years ago explorers reported the naturally occurring bitumen seeping up on the banks of Athabasca River and, for many years to come, scientists would rack their brains over how to separate the precious bitumen from the sand and water. In fact, even 60 years ago observers doubted the feasibility of producing oil sands economically. Like celebrity marriages these components were costly to separate, but time has proved that it can be done at increasing rates of speed and efficiency.

So this is as much a story about creativity, perseverance and innovation as it is about the origins and makeup of the oil sands. It is the process and evolution of oil sands technology and innovation that has ultimately transformed the oil sands into a profitable resource today. And the evolution is still in progress.

Around 1915, Sidney Ells, an engineer with the federal Department of Mines, was the first to suggest using hot water to separate the three. In 1925, a man with the Alberta Research Council named Karl Clark successfully demonstrated a separation method using hot water and caustic soda, a technique employed by two mining operations today. Most mining operations today, however, do not require caustic soda.

Mining is the approach of choice when bitumen deposits lie close enough to the surface to be removed using trucks and shovels.

Here’s mining in a nutshell

Mining, one of two techniques employed in oil sands extraction, receives the most attention from environmentalists, journalists and concerned energy consumers because it disrupts the land and results in tailings ponds. A mixture of water, clay, sand, residual bitumen  and other hydrocarbons, salts and trace metals produced through the extraction process, tailings are often stored in discontinued mine pits where the mixture is left to settle. Problem is, due to all the fine particles, it takes a while to settle on its own.

Mining technology and research today are focused around ways to hasten the settling process, to reduce or eliminate tailings ponds altogether or speed up the process of reclaiming the land back to its original state and, finally, to reduce the amount of energy used in the extraction process. Examples of today’s oil sands mining innovations include:

• Syncrude’s low energy extraction process (Aurora Mine)
• Canadian Natural’s CO2 injection process (Horizon Mine)
• Canadian Natural, Syncrude, Imperial Oil and Suncor’s dry stackable tailings (also called consolidated tailings)
• Gradek Energy Inc.’s polymer beads (used by Syncrude)

Despite all these neat advancements in mining technology, only 20 per cent of all oil sands reserves contain bitumen close enough to the surface to be mined. The remaining 80 per cent lies too deep below the earth’s surface.

In-situ techniques are used for extracting oil from oil sands reservoirs deep beneath the surface using heat or solvents or other processes to soften the bitumen enough so it can flow up through the well.

Here’s in-situ in a nutshell

Most major in-situ projects inject steam through a well, heating the bitumen enough so it can be pumped to the surface. While this is often accomplished by injecting steam, there are also other approaches, including injecting solvents, natural gas liquids, or oxygen, which causes an underground combustion. In-situ bitumen production requires further processing to remove water and sand particles and recycles 90 per cent of the water used. Remaining solids are put in landfills, injected underground or used to pave roads. After processing, the bitumen is diluted with pentanes and heavier hydrocarbons obtained from natural gas processing. The resulting mixture is then shipped by pipeline to an upgrader or refinery.

The most popular in-situ method is called Steam-assisted Gravity Drainage, or SAGD, which involves two horizontal wells, one of which (the upper one) is used to inject the steam. The steam heats the bitumen enough so it can flow into the production well (the lower one) and is then pumped to the surface. Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) is a similar method that uses only one well instead of two.Now, the astute observer might be keen to ask how in-situ fans respond to environmentalists concerned about the use of water and energy needed to make the steam.

One has to dig deeply for the answer to this one… deep underground that is. That’s because in-situ operators use heat and undrinkable water from subsurface aquifers to generate the steam, which means use of water from the Athabasca River or other local water supply is negligible. As well, some in-situ operators are turning to alternative energy sources to power their operations, such as geothermal energy, which also resides deep underground. So whether you’re talking about energy, water use or the overall technique, conversations about in-situ can get pretty deep.

Ultimately, in-situ technology advancements today focus on using cleaner energy and less of it as well as minimizing or eliminating water use. Examples of this include:

• Firefloods, such as Petrobank’s Toe to Heel Air Injection (THAI) which uses underground combustion rather than steam to generate heat. This technique also reduces GHGs as it partially upgrades the heavy oil into a lighter oil while it is still underground. It does this through coking, which is explained further down.
• Vapour extraction, or VAPEX, which is similar to SAGD described above but instead of steam, natural gas liquids such as ethane, propane or butane are injected, acting as a solvent to loosen the bitumen.
• Cold production which produces sand along with the oil, improving oil recovery rates.

So next time you encounter a pair of people who get along like peas and carrots, and they happen to be engineers or in the oil industry, just say, “Those two are so close, they’re just like bitumen and sand.” Then pause for effect and say, “except not even mining or in-situ technology could separate them.”

Next week:  The second part of Wells to Wheels – Bitumen finally grows up

Eco-friendly schools

This fall, kids going back to school will be learning a lot about a certain colour: green.  In many places in Ontario, kids will be starting their day by climbing onto green buses.

They’re still yellow, don’t worry all you traditionalists.  But inside, they’re actually “green.”

Student Transportation of Canada (STC) has announced plans to increase their fleet of “green” buses to 900 biofueled vehicles. Already a leader in biofuel transportation, STC is intent on reducing their carbon emissions and shrinking their carbon footprints.

The green doesn’t stop once the children get to school.

In some lucky places, the kids are greeted upon their arrival with school gardens designed by Evergreen, a non-profit organization. They help create a garden that is both attractive for play, but also teaches them about plant growth and food production.

In Hamilton, a design for a new Catholic school will include solar panels, a green roof, rain-water toilets, outdoor classroom, and light systems that self-adjust based on the amount of sun. It will be the only LEED-certified school in the area.

Apart from the prestigious LEED-status, the Seeds Foundation has been recognizing schools for their green efforts for 30 years. Schools are rewarded for taking on projects as simple as recycling in the classroom, and litter clean-up days.

Designations are based on the number of projects completed, from Green status for 100 projects, to Earth School status with 1000 projects, and beyond.

With everyday exposure to things like recycling, awareness of greenhouse gas, and environmental clubs, students walk away with the tools to make smart and Earth-friendly decisions later on.

Countdown to Copenhagen

Officially known as the 15th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the upcoming conference in Copenhagen is being dubbed by this article as a “a critical chance to build a new environmental order.”

Full Story [theVarsity.ca]

Biofuels caravan rolling along

Federal funds continue to flow to an array of biofuel projects across the country, mainly from Natural Resources Canada’s ecoENERGY program in a determined bid to encourage production of renewable alternatives to gasoline and diesel. Compared with gasoline, grain-based ethanol can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 40 per cent on a life-cycle basis and the difference can be as much as 60 per cent for biodiesel.

Ottawa has committed $1.5 billion over nine years for development of the renewable fuels industry in Canada.  The most recent recipient of ecoENERGY support is Husky Energy, which will receive up to $72.8 million for its ethanol plant in Minnedosa, Manitoba. Other announcements this year include up to $23.2 million for Permolex Ltd. of Red Deer, Alberta, up to $19.9 million for Western Biodiesel in High River, Alberta, and up to $72.4 million for Biox Canada in Hamilton, Ontario.

However, the main ecoENERGY beneficiary is GreenField Ethanol, Canada’s main producer of ethanol. It has federal commitments of up to $212.3 million for facilities in Ontario, including up to $117.5 million in Johnstown, up to $72.8 million in Chatham, and up to $14 million in Tiverton. The Johnstown project also is receiving $7.3 million in repayable funding from ecoAgriculture Biofuels Capital, a $200-million program run by Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada.

Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) is also involved in encouraging ethanol production through its NextGen Biofuels Fund. An SDTC grant of up to $1.82 million to Lignol Energy Corp. of Burnaby, B.C., will support development of an industrial-scale plant for production of cellulosic ethanol and other renewables.

Sorry I forgot your birthday

Did you remember to celebrate Independence Day
…on July 8? Energy expert T. Boone Pickens declared “Energy Independence Day” on the first anniversary of the eponymous Pickens Plan to reduce America’s reliance on foreign oil, and support home-grown solutions.

Pickens’ chief objection to the status quo is oil imports.  He says the United States relies on foreign, and often unfriendly, sources for 70 per cent of the oil they consume.  That’s worth about $475 billion annually.

The Pickens Plan involves investing in clean energy – particularly domestic natural gas.  He’d like to see more support for the sale and use of cars using it. The other major focus is wind power; T. Boone says there’s a lot of unharnessed energy just blowing around.

He hopes his plan is like the AA meeting; steps to take to wean the US off oil to live a healthier lifestyle.  If not healthier, then at least more sustainable. His website states “America imports 12 million barrels a day, and Saudi Arabia only produces 9 million a day.”

The Pickens Plan has adopted President Obama’s now-famous “Yes We Can” to convince average Americans the plan is really possible. Has he managed to influence the President himself?

As it happens, Obama was talking about Pickens when he was still campaigning.  The president is a busy guy, but they’ve been seen walking and talking – so who knows?

New school leads by example

Being named after Canada’s most famous environmentalist, it’s no surprise that the David Suzuki Public School in Windsor will use 24 per cent of the amount of energy a typical school uses

Full Story [Financial Post]

« Previous Page — Next Page »