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High-Tech Could Make Oil Sands Competitive
...proprietary technology with Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) to develop its oilsands leases. This new technology aims to simplify the complexity of the production process, by directly upgrading the SAGD wellhead slurry of bitumen emulsion. The refinery will no longer need high-power desulphurization or sulphur removal units. What happens to the sulphur is not clear to me. VCI upgrading technology comprises two processes. The first process takes hot bitumen emulsion and the produced water directly from the SAGD wells and produces clean decontaminated oil. This premium heavy oil contains small amounts of asphaltenes and can be transported with little or no diluent. The extracted asphaltenes can be sold as solid fuel or used as a fuel for steam generation. The second process can produce either synthetic crude oil or diluent. It can also produce synthetic gas that can be used for steam generation. Stream generation means power production. Posted by: Bobby 2010-09-11 |
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