Trying To See Through An Oil Spill

Image: New York Times

In the aftermath of the explosion that destroyed BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig on April 30, oil hasn’t been the only thing leaking out — the disaster continues to draw headlines every day in major newspapers around the world.

In Canada, feedback has ranged from calls to restrict further offshore drilling, which have so far been rebuffed, to attempts to capitalize on the environmental fallout by calling attention to Alberta’s oil sands and the relative benefits in light of open sea leaks. Any organization with a stake in petroleum can be expected to make their point on an issue as large as the spill literally is.

As the weeks go on — and, at present, all indications are that the leak will continue for weeks to come — Flow will be aggregating some of the most pressing questions on the disaster.

In the meantime, PBS has released a widget that calculates the total amount of crude oil based on a range that runs from the lowest published estimate (210,000 gallons a day) to the worst-case scenario. While it’s hard to contextualize the size of the spill — though the New York Times provides a time-lapsed map of the area — the widget provides a sense both of its possible scale, and of the differences that different estimates make when the scale of the disaster is already so huge.

For Monday, May 10, here is a quick rundown of some of the most interesting articles published on the BP Deepwater Horizon spill.

• The increasing dependence on deep-sea robots (Scientific American)
• A slideshow of the US Coast Guard’s response to the fire (Scientific American)
• Changing the design of the containment dome (The Globe and Mail)

Launching Alberta’s energy future

It’s a drum that Flow’s been beating since our very first post: energy is important to Canadians (376KB PDF) (even if they feel like their role in policy-making is limited. The hitch, of course, is that it’s not always easy to make it clear to Canadians just how important that energy is, and the result can lead to confusion and, often, downright hostility.

In Alberta, where the energy industry employs one in six people, energy education is especially important. That’s why a group of seven Alberta associations that includes the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Alberta Enterprise Group recently launched their “Alberta is Energy” campaign, an initiative designed to raise “awareness about the important role the oil and gas industry plays in the lives of Albertans.” Announced at a luncheon in Calgary’s Hyatt Regency Hotel that drew hundreds of industry and governmental representatives, the “Alberta is Energy” campaign is largely in response to the Government of Alberta’s recent competitiveness review (2.7 MB PDF), which saw royalty rates for energy reduced in order to encourage investment.

At the centre of the initiative’s launch was an address by David Collyer, president of CAPP. Addressing the current state and likely future of the energy industry, Collyer’s speech included references to the changing (and increasing) patterns of energy consumption, the importance of responsible production, collaborative solutions and the importance of public communication, as underlined by the “Alberta is Energy” campaign itself.

Recognizing the growing demand for energy, both nationally and particularly globally, Collyer first argued for the oil and natural gas industry as a basis for long-term growth in the province.

“Contrary to the gambler archetype,” he said, “global capital does not want radical change.”

In terms of resources, Collyer’s speech separately addressed oil and natural gas in Western Canada, the natural gas industry and the oil sands. These energy sources, he said, would ultimately be part of an “ecclesiastical” mix of resources where “there is room for all fuels in the energy mix.” He went on to note that tax revenues declined in the aftermath of the provincial government’s previous royalty rate increase, and suggested that future growth would depend on encouraging investment, collaboration and awareness.

Two themes underlined Collyer’s speech: communication and improved production.  At the moment, examples of efforts to promote the energy industry’s record on responsibility include CAPP’s Stewardship of Excellence Awards and its Responsible Canadian Energy Program.

“Alberta is Energy” adds another layer to the campaign to communicate this responsibility, and relates most directly to the industry’s overall communication efforts. This includes both energy consumers and the regulators and industries most directly involved in planning the country’s energy future.

Collaboration was a related theme in the campaign’s launch, with Collyer citing the need for relationships between energy companies, the communities they operate in and the stakeholders who ultimately benefit (a major component of the campaign seen in its “Feature Stories”). Collyer’s speech made several references to the need to find middle ground, a position that is often elusive.

“On both sides,” he said, referring to the energy industry and environmental advocacy groups, “there is room for less talking and more listening.”

But if the launch event was intended to provoke a sense of energy, both literally and figuratively “energizing,” Collyer made it clear that the industry recognizes that its long-term survival and adaptation will not be instantaneous. While improved performance will ultimately provide a solid basis for the kind of public engagement that lets Canadians know how important their energy is, these two strategies will ultimately take time.

“This is a marathon,” said Collyer. “Not a sprint.”

Something old, something new and something green

What is the future going to look like?

It’s not a new question, but it’s one we’re still constantly trying to answer. And when it comes to energy, it’s a question that seems to have a few contradictory answers.

On one hand, we already know that Canada’s future is going to be different than its present: with the advent of alternative energy technologies and an increasing emphasis on energy efficiency, Canadians are demanding a bigger say in the energy they use. A national Canadian Centre for Energy Information survey conducted this year found that a full 59 per cent of respondents felt disconnected from decision-making on energy policies. But on the other hand, there are strong economic incentives to continue using the same profitable sources we’ve always used, especially when demand for those sources is growing globally. So, what’s a Canadian to do?

Flow doesn’t have a crystal ball (just a pic), but we’re always doing our best to keep an eye out to the future. So, here are a few thoughts on Canada’s energy future: the new, the old and the green.

Something Old

At the moment, Canada’s primary energy production is dominated by crude oil and natural gas. Together, these two sources make up almost 75 per cent of our total energy exports, exports that totalled $126 billion in 2008. Given the current patterns of global energy consumption, those exports isn’t likely to become any less important to the country.

Global demand for both oil and natural gas is continuing to rise, driven by demand in Asia and the Middle East, particularly China. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), demand in the transportation sector alone is expected to climb 41 per cent by 2030. And with most of that demand occurring in the developing world, Canada’s strength as an exporter is likely to continue, especially with oil reserves actually continuing to grow.

In fact, despite the fact that oil is a non-renewable resource, developments in areas like Alberta’s oil sands — the second largest oil reserve in the world — have hiked the planet’s total proved reserves to 1,258 billion barrels. If demand continues to increase, there will continue to be reserves to meet this demand into the near future.

One of the places where industry will be discussing that near future will be the CERI 2010 Oil Conference, a three-day event running between April 18 and 20. With session titles like “Conventional Oil: Last Rights or New Breath?” it’s clear that the industry recognizes that changes are coming, but with demand continuing, there’s strong reason to believe that the future won’t necessarily be unrecognizable.

Still, while oil and natural gas have long been mainstays of the Canadian energy mix, an increasing emphasis on the environmental impact of their use has fuelled the development of alternative energy sources.  The field of alternative energy includes sources as varied as biomass and waste products, but two of the leading areas in the field of alternative energy continue to be solar and wind.

Something New

Solar and wind energy are two of the most common examples of energy technologies that are changing the Canadian energy mix, and are likely to continue to change it into our future. Solar power is already becoming increasingly common in Canadian homes and once-distant wind turbine might end up finding their way into our cities.

For now, solar energy is primarily used in two ways in Canadian homes, either passively and actively. Examples of active use include photovoltaic (PV) cells that generate electricity or through solar heating panels that transmit the sun’s heat through a heat-transfer liquid. Passive uses of solar energy include architectural changes that allow homes to absorb ambient heat and redirect it in much the same way that a heating duct redirects a furnace’s.

At a federal level, solar development is supported through Natural Resource Canada’s CanmetENERGY, whose solar projects include research into low energy solar homes and developing codes, certification, and installation standards for PV systems and components. The agency has even developed a useful map of PV potential across the country demonstrating Canada’s solar potential.

Given that potential, it’s not surprising that organizations like The Canadian Solar Industries Association (CanSIA) are trying to get professionals networking. In May, CanSIA will host its first-ever regional conference. Running for two days, May 25 and 26, the conference’s topics include “The economics of solar – can it make sense?”, “Sharing the Western Landscape…where do renewables and solar fit in?” and a “Solar Showcase” featuring private and public industry figures.

Wind, meanwhile, continues to be largely a commercial, rather than a residential sector. Though there are wind turbines small enough to be used residentially, they aren’t nearly as common as their larger, commercial brothers.

For now, wind represents only 0.3 per cent of the country’s total electricity mix, but given global trends it’s not difficult to imagine that number growing. In fact, in the last 10 years, wind power use globally has increased annually by 30 per cent. The applications for Canada, where rural communities sometimes require their own power, are considerable. Operations adding diesel or hydro to intermittent wind, for example, could provide the same amount of energy with fewer emissions and other negative environmental impacts. Expect issues like these to be discussed at The Canadian Wind Energy Association’s upcoming Wind Energy Forum, running from April 13 to 14 in Toronto.

Something Green

Whether they’re fossil fuels or renewable energy sources, one of our strongest motivations for changing the way we use energy continues to be our concern over greenhouse gas emissions. Even if our mix continues to include fuels that produce these emissions, the way we use our energy is becoming just as important as the types of energy sources we use. Canada’s energy future, then, is likely to include changes in that use, both by consumers and businesses.

For those industries already producing fossil fuels, the emphasis will now be on “cleaner” versions. From carbon capture and storage technology that will trap much of the carbon dioxide ultimately released into the atmosphere, to fundamental changes in the way that oil and natural gas are extracted. At least one of the many public acknowledgements of this move toward cleaner fossil fuels can be seen in the U.S.- Canada Clean Energy Dialogue, a resolution between the two countries aimed at reducing the intensity of the energy industry’s emissions.

Consumers, meanwhile, in addition to being able to purchase home-based energy systems that can sell power back to the grid, as Ontarians can do under the province’s Feed-In Tariff program, are using less energy. And provincial governments are doing what they can to ensure that this conservation becomes a large part of the country’s energy future.

Provincial governments have already nodded to the importance of reducing their citizens’ energy use, creating agencies like Quebec’s Agence de l’efficacité énergétique and Prince Edward Island’s Office of Energy Efficiency to centrally manage provincial energy efficiency initiatives. Together with more rigorous building codes and incentive programs that encourage everything from low flow toilets to more efficient appliances, the hope is that future energy use will not only be defined by resources like oil and natural gas, wind and solar, but by the consumers who ultimately use them.

Infinity, Genetics and Oil

What do you do when you have more choices than atoms in the universe? You develop computer software to make the best decision… and not just any software but the type that is modeled after life itself. Enter Genetic Algorithms (GA), a class of computer programs that mimic the process of biological genetics in order to find the best possible solvent-steam recipe for getting the most oil out of a reservoir.

“For the last 15 years researchers have been trying to get the optimal amount of oil out of various geologic formations, by injecting different combinations of solvents and steam,” explains Laricina Energy Ltd.’s Neil Edmunds, Vice President Enhanced Oil Recovery. “The very first time we used this new software, it ran for two weeks and produced results that were superior to all the best techniques that human beings had written down over the last 15 years.”

The use of solvent and steam is preceded by technologies that injected only steam, a common extraction approach of in-situ oil sands operators today. With hard sticky bitumen deep below the surface in oil sands geologic formations, the steam heats it enough so that it can be extracted like conventional oil. This is often done through a process called steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), which is one of the most well known in-situ techniques. Latin for “in place”, in-situ technology recovers bitumen from deep below the earth’s surface using wellbores. In-situ operators use various approaches to loosen the viscosity of the bitumen enough so that it can flow up through a production well. In the case of SAGD technology, steam is injected into one horizontal well and the softened bitumen flows down into a parallel production well where it is pumped to the surface.

SAGD requires energy and water (mostly non-potable groundwater from deep saline aquifers) to generate the steam needed to heat the bitumen. Industry has been improving the efficiency of SAGD with engineering and better technology that continues to reduce oil sands water and energy use which not only improves the economics but reduces greenhouse gas emissions. For companies like Imperial Oil, Laricina and EnCana, one solution is using solvents which act as diluents for bitumen. On one end of the solvent-use spectrum, there is the cold solvents approach, which basically involves no steam and injecting a solvent like propane into the oil to make it thin enough to be pumped. While this approach requires minimal energy and has no emissions or water usage, it is also comparable to the speed at which molasses flows on a cool January morning.

“If the process is too slow, you end up needing to drill too many wells,” explains Edmunds, “which impacts your rate of return and efficiency”. As it is right now, the cold-solvent extraction approach is too slow to be efficient. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum is the previously discussed SAGD approach in which no solvents are used at all. The gamut of possibilities that sits between the two extremes is astronomically large.

“The problem with using solvents is the number of choices you can make,” explains Edmunds.  “If you have a certain amount of steam and two types of solvents, for example, and let’s say we’re going to allow for a different injection rate every few months, and you do that for five years, you end up with more possibilities than the number of atoms in the universe.”

Making Choices

So how exactly does it all work and why are there so many changing variables involved? Basically, a solvent combination with a low boiling point is injected together with the steam, Edmunds explains. As the steam mixture moves out into the reservoir the steam condenses at a higher temperature than the solvent, causing the solvent vapour to move ahead of the steam, essentially “beating the steam to the punch.” Ultimately this allows the entire steam front to move through the reservoir quicker as the solvent mobilizes the oil in regions that are cooler than the steam zone. “At the end of the day we’re draining the same oil using half the steam and therefore half the water and half the carbon emissions.”

Of course the term “half” in all of these contexts is variable depending on the choices an engineer makes on a project. And it’s not just the solvent types, mixes and quantities that make for an expansive array of possibilities, but other variables as well, such as the shape, size and characteristics of a reservoir or the steam and solvent injection rate. Even economic factors such as market prices of solvents can exponentially increase the number of variables in a given operation.

“If there are 60 possible variables, and each one of those variables can have 10 values, the total number of different options is 10⁶⁰,” explains Edmunds, likening the optimization process to finding the highest peak of a mountain, which is usually obscured by clouds. “In this sense, the surface to be optimized on cannot be seen (only sampled at different points), it exists in many, many dimensions, it is very nonlinear and therefore the same action often generates different or opposite effects when applied in different situations.” In other words, it makes advanced calculus look like a game of duck-duck-goose.

But that hasn’t stopped companies from trying to nail down an optimal process. In the end, the sheer enormity of possibilities explored on a pencil-to-paper basis was enough to drive throngs of engineers crazy, making the transition from wetware to software an inevitable part of the technology’s evolution.

Using Smarter Software

“Genetic Algorithms is a program for automating the process of optimizing complex and nonlinear problems,” explains Edmunds, adding that GA is basically an implementation of some of the basic mechanisms of biological evolution. And it seems to make sense. Genetic variation is, after all, a process that also optimizes outcomes that are best suited to organisms’ environments and also deals with a vast selection of seemingly infinite variables.

Sticking with the analogy, the engineer creates a ‘genome’ that defines an arbitrary number of variables to be investigated, each with a finite range and specified number of possible values. Using the software, the genome is a simulation that reflects the particular values encoded in an arbitrary bit string of a certain length. The engineer could input an ‘objective function’ for a given simulation, such as ‘minimize supply cost’, as one example out of many. The program would then calculate the ‘score’ based on economic evaluation.

“Essentially, we’re just borrowing from nature itself to find ways to get the most amount of oil for the least amount of cost and environmental impact,” concludes Edmunds who also teaches as Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering.

So far, Laricina has conducted a series of tests with solvents in its carbonate Grosmont Formation at Saleski, southwest of Fort McMurray. As GA software continues to simulate and model various solvent-steam combinations, the company expects commercial production to begin in 2014 and grow steadily for 10 to 15 years, all the while improving recovery techniques, lowering operating costs and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Great Oil Sands Journey Part 5

Idling cars are the devil’s greenhouse

Imagine, for a moment, that we lived in an ideal world. Apples and avocados don’t turn brown an hour after being sliced. You always get perfect radio reception, even in tunnels, and commercials tend to be of lower volume than the television show you’re watching.

Wheels to Winds
Part five of a five-part series

Let’s imagine how the combustion engine in your car would work in this world. First, you have your gasoline which contains your hydrogen and carbon. Then you have the air, which is full of oxygen. The oxygen in the air would convert all the hydrogen in the fuel into drinking water and all the carbon in the fuel into carbon dioxide. Let’s say that whenever these reactions occurred, a natural byproduct would be music. And all the nitrogen in the air would watch with vague interest, but opt not to get involved.

Now for a reality check. In the real world, the hydrocarbons in the fuel react with the nitrogen in the air as well. The end result after the oxygen and nitrogen comingle with the hydrocarbons is the following:

• Nitrogen oxides (NOx) which are precursors to ozone and components of acid rain.
• Hydrocarbons which are basically any of the fuel that doesn’t burn completely. Smog results when hydrocarbons react with nitrogen oxides and sunlight.
• Carbon Monoxide which is similar to carbon dioxide, except there is only one oxygen atom (CO) instead of two (CO2). This occurs when there is incomplete combustion, which happens periodically, and the fuel is only partially oxidized. As you may know, carbon monoxide can be lethal as it diminishes the amount of oxygen in the blood when inhaled. That extra oxygen molecule is very important when it comes to that whole breathing and staying alive thing that we always have to worry about.
• Carbon Dioxide which is a greenhouse gas, a leading cause of climate change.
• Water which is, unfortunately, no more than a fine, warm mist at this point, so you can’t really drink it.

Aside from exhaust emissions described above, keep in mind that there are also emissions that result from refueling your car and simple fuel evaporation that occurs on hot days, causing the gasoline to slowly evaporate. Needless to say, this is certainly not ideal.

Now, let’s take a giant step back and look at how many greenhouse gases result right from the beginning, when the bitumen is extracted from the oil sands, to the end, when the fuel is burned in your car. A common description of this more thorough way of looking at oil sands emissions is ‘from wells to wheels’. People have been known to say that oil sands greenhouse gas emissions are three to four times higher than conventional crude oil. This figure does not take into account the full lifecycle of oil sands, from extraction and processing through to combustion of its refined products.

According to recent research on full life-cycle emissions released by IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), oil sands emissions are five to 15 per cent higher than conventional crude oil like Saudi light, or California heavy oil. The reason for the major difference in these averages is because 70 to 80 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions from all refined products are emitted by us when we drive.

Of course, people are reluctant to take responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. But once you realize that you have a pretty big piece of the emissions pie, there are things you can do to make it smaller, such as:

• Walk or bike. You don’t need to drive to get to your friend’s house, especially if they live next door.
• Buy a hybrid or fuel efficient car. Sure, they come with their criticisms, but they’re a step, or rather a drive in the right direction.
• Safe hypermiling like lessening cargo, not breaking or accelerating suddenly and not idling. Remember the old saying: idling cars are the devil’s greenhouse… er… something like that…
• Avoid wrong turns by preplanning trips or using a GPS system. Not only do you help the environment but you get to be not lost, which is always nice.

Of course, that doesn’t mean industry shouldn’t do its part to reduce emissions either. Even five per cent composes a significant amount of emissions. The general consensus seems to be that reducing emissions in the future will rely heavily on technology, technology, technology.

David Layzell from the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy says that future oil sands technologies will likely fall into one or more of the following four categories:

1. Mechanical – focuses on finding more creative ways to efficiently separate oil from sand (Layzell hints that there are already proprietary projects in the pipes).
2. Thermal – focuses on how to extract more bitumen using less steam, and therefore less energy to create the steam. Another approach in this category is using cleaner energy to power the in situ process. Gasification of petroleum coke, a byproduct of many oil sands operations, is also an interesting alternative since the CO₂ stream that is created can be captured and stored relatively easily, thereby eliminating atmospheric emissions.
3. Chemical – has two approaches, mainly in the in situ category of oil sands extraction. One is using solvents instead of energy intensive steam to lessen the viscosity of the bitumen so it can flow to the surface.  The other using nanocatalysts that transform the oil into a lighter crude before it is pumped to the surface.
4. Biological – This approach uses bacteria to metabolize the oil and convert it into methane, leaving behind toxic sulphur and nitrogen compounds. The methane can then be extracted in a way similar to less carbon-heavy natural gas.

For an idea of what the oil sands industry is doing right now to reduce its impact on the environment, visit www.canadasoilsands.ca. Click on the section ‘what we’re doing’ to get an idea of the initiatives industry is voluntarily undertaking to reduce its impact on air, land, and water, as well as its effect on nearby communities. The website also provides a forum for Canadians to discuss oil sands issues.

Finally, as we all line up to accept our ownership of this unsavory emissions pie, let’s take a quick look at what the government is doing. The Government of Canada has its Turning the Corner Plan which aims to reduce greenhouse gases by 20 per cent of 2006 levels by 2020. Also, Environment Minister Jim Prentice recently announced that Canada would be implementing tough emissions laws to match those imposed in Washington under the vigorous American Clean Energy and Security Act. In addition to that, both the Government of Canada and the Alberta government have been known to foot some of the bill for research and development of new, emissions-reducing technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

Of course, the solutions discussed above for consumers, industry and government are not an exhaustive list. Saving the planet seems to be, at times, a daunting challenge that leaves many people wondering if their actions make a difference. But don’t let that take the wind out of your sails. You’ve seen the power of the ripple effect in the ‘waves to wells’ story and the power of individual perseverance and innovation in the ‘wells to wheels’ story. The’ wheels to winds’ story is about you and me, and the how small decisions can have huge affects on the environment, the economy and the world around us.

This is as much a story about how we power our lives, as it is one about the power we each have as individuals. We determine the ending.

The Great Oil Sands Journey Part 4

Everyone wants a piece of the plump pump pie

Now you know how bitumen is separated from the sand and then upgraded and refined into a specific product. Once the oil is refined into, let’s say, gasoline – because it accounts for about 40 per cent of the crude oil volume processed by Canadian refiners – it is ready to be shipped via pipeline and sold on the market.

Wells to Wheels
Part four of a five-part series

Before we get into the details of how gasoline goes from your wheels to the wind in the form of emissions, we should quickly address another important topic relating to the marketing of oil products, like gasoline…the price.

The cost of gasoline is like Calgary’s weather. You don’t like it, wait five minutes. It tends to vary from day to day and city to city for a whole host of different reasons. The most dominant reason for local price changes is local competition among stations. ‘Joe Fuel’, owner of ‘Pass ‘n Gas’ fueling station has a lot of factors to consider when he sets his price. He has to find a price that is high enough to cover all his business operating costs, such as the wholesale cost of the gas and rent. Yet he also has to find a price that is low enough to attract customers.

Now, if ‘Joe Fuel’ sees that ‘John Juice’, owner of ‘Pump ‘n Ride’, from across the street has raised his price a little, Joe is probably going to adjust his price accordingly. It’s only fitting that the price of something as invisible as gas would be dictated by the invisible hand… think grandfather of capitalism, Adam Smith. Think back to grade nine social studies and laws of supply and demand. Something as simple as having a refinery break down can affect the supply and therefore the price shoots right up. Every year we see evidence of this as summer gas prices hit a peak when refineries close down temporarily for annual maintenance (decreasing supply) and everyone gets revved up to go on road trips (increasing demand).

If those factors aren’t enough, consider that wars can affect the supply of oil to Canada, and extreme weather conditions, like Hurricane Katrina, can affect both the supply of oil and gasoline.

“Ultimately, the full price you pay at the pump can be broken down into three components: 24.1 per cent goes to refining and marketing, which is all the stuff we just talked about, like operating costs and margins. 46.2 per cent is crude oil costs. Finally, the last component is as certain as death…taxes. The government also getst a piece of the pie…31.9 per cent to be exact.”

Next week: Wheels to Winds – Idling cars are the devil’s greenhouse

The Great Oil Sands Journey Part 3

Bitumen finally grows up

Once you manage to get the bitumen separated from the sand, the next step is to get it upgraded, a process needed to convert bitumen into a product with a density and viscosity similar to conventional light crude oil. Upgrading, like life, comes in a series of stages.

Wells to Wheels
Part three of a five-part series

The first stage deals with breaking up the enormous carbon molecules. We’ll look at this as similar to being a child because they still have many school years to complete before they are ready for a career, though, to be fair, they have already come quite a long way. For bitumen, the ultimate goal is to get a career in fueling cars, jets or furnaces, or becoming a plastic or asphalt. Just as there are many jobs in the world, so too are there many petroleum products.

Bitumen contains more carbon-rich hydrocarbon molecules than conventional oil, so it’s important to upgrade the bitumen into a product that refiners can work with. This is usually done through a process called “coking” which breaks down heavy oil molecules into lighter ones by removing the carbon. Another approach is hydro-processing, which adds hydrogen under high-pressure to help balance out the carbon to hydrogen ratio. If you’re torn between which of the processes to use next time you want to break down some carbon-heavy molecules, a common approach is to do both.

The second stage is a process called hydrotreating. We’ll look at this stage as similar to being a highschool student. These students have accomplished many years of school and soon they will be graduating. If there is anything still childish in them, they are encouraged to get it out of their systems now. The same is so with bitumen. Hydrotreating, for example, removes childish things like sulphur and nitrogen.

Once upgrading has happened, the oil must be refined. This is the process of transforming the crude oil into a classy, well-dressed product. Well, actually, we’re going to look at this phase as the college student phase. First, what refining does is distill the oil at various temperatures to make various products. Of course, all refineries are different, but ultimately they separate and process the mix of hydrocarbons in the oil, transforming it into a whole array of different products like gasoline, lubricants, diesel or jet fuel, depending on which tray it evaporates up to and settles on after it has been heated. Think of this as like specialization. Before people can enter the work world, they should specialize their learning in certain subjects that match their interests and aspirations. The crude oil’s final product – its destiny – is determined by its makeup, its boiling point and the tray upon which it settles.

Here’s refining in a nutshell

This separation is done through an atmospheric distillation tower which is a tall steel tower layered with perforated trays at different levels. Each petroleum product has a different boiling point so the distillation tower is able to separate the different products through heating and cooling. The distillation process is continuous and begins by heating crude oil in a furnace until it turns into a vapour which rises through perforations in the trays. As the vapours rise, they shed their heaviest components, which condense onto the tray, liquefy and are then drawn off the tray by pipes. Heavier hydrocarbons boil at a much higher temperature than lighter ones, so they settle in trays near the bottom or middle-bottom, resulting in products like jet, diesel and furnace fuels. Lighter oils collect at the top, resulting in products like light gasoline and petrochemicals.

Interestingly, despite the fact that much of Canada’s fuel demand is met through oil sands, much of the bitumen is sold to U.S. refiners rather than being refined here in Canada. This is mainly because Canada’s older refineries are designed to process predominately low-sulphur light crude oil. However, some Canadian refineries are being retrofitted to handle synthetic crude.

The fact that oil sands refining jobs and opportunities go south has caused quite a stir in recent times. With the struggling economy, many organizations, such as the Alberta Federation of Labour, are speaking out and urging the Alberta Government to intervene and stimulate the creation of refineries, and jobs, in Alberta.

So there you have it… the full process of oil’s journey from the oil sands mine or in-situ well, right up to the point where it becomes a refined product that is ready and willing to do its job. And just as it is so in life, entering into the work world is just another beginning.

Next week:  Wheels to Winds – Everyone wants a piece of the plump pump pie

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

The Great Oil Sands Journey Part 1

From waves to wells to wheels to winds

Next time you fill up your car to drive from Winnipeg to Waterloo, take a moment to ponder the full journey. Not your journey – the journey of your fuel, starting from the oil sands. Actually, let’s go further than that, beginning before the oil sands, when oil was just a sparkle on an oceanic wave.

Waves to Wells
Part one of a five-part series

In the beginning, and we’re talking hundreds of millions of years ago, the remains of tiny plants and animals, mainly algae, were buried in sea beds. As they became more deeply buried, they began to heat up at temperatures between 50 and 150 degrees, eventually turning into liquid hydrocarbons, sulphur compounds, CO2 and water. Some of the liquid hydrocarbons included “light” compounds, others included “heavy” compounds and the rest contained everything in between.

Next time you start to feel impatient when you’re stuck behind a slow driver, imagine how long it would have taken for this viscous oil to migrate from strata beneath the western sea, eastward and upward through 100 kilometers of rock until finally reaching and saturating the large expanses of sand and sandstones that we now know as Alberta’s oil sands. We’re talking about 50 million years.

Enter the bacteria who are, at once, the heroes and the villains of the natural world. Sadly, the heroic nature of bacteria, which are being tested in new technologies today to create biofuels, improve oil sand extraction efficiency, speed up tailings pond reclamation and to upgrade heavy oils into lighter, cleaner burning fuels underground, is for another story.

This particular story, on the origins of the oil sands, is about how the hungry bacteria feasted on the lighter hydrocarbons first, leaving the heavier ones and metal compounds that cannot be digested behind. To this day, oil sands bitumen contains the more heavy hydrocarbons, which is why they receive so much attention. It requires more energy to transform the carbon heavy bitumen from the oil sands into fuel for your car than it does to transform conventional crude. And, often, more energy equals more greenhouse gas emissions, particularly when the energy used is natural gas.

On the plus side, however, Canada’s oil sands are vast and bountiful, fueling not only North America’s planes, trains and automobiles, but our bustling economy as well. Who knew such tiny little critters bobbing aimlessly in the ocean would have such a huge ripple effect on how we power our lives today?

Next week: Wells to Wheels – Do I have to separate you three?