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?