Now from Partner in Info, Syncrude.com go down to click search and then click OIL SAND WHY WE ARE HERE ( See Nice Picture of our DSirt < The Minerals in stuff!> on our BM Permits):
Who We Are Oil Sand: Why We're Here
Oil Sand: Why We're Here
Oil sand is composed of sand, bitumen, mineral rich clays and water. The bitumen in the oil sand mined at the Mildred Lake site averages 10.5 percent by weight and is made up of 50 to 60 percent oil, 30 to 35 percent resins and 15 to 25 percent asphaltenes. In its raw state, bitumen is a black, asphalt-like oil -- as thick as molasses. It requires upgrading to make it transportable by pipeline and usable by conventional refineries. The upgraded bitumen product consists of naphtha, light and heavy gas oils that are combined to produce a light, sweet crude oil that Syncrude calls Syncrude Sweet Blend.
Water makes up about four percent of the oil sand by weight. It surrounds each grain of sand, keeping it separate from the oil. Without this water envelope, the oil and the sand could not be separated by the hot water extraction method now being used.
According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Alberta's oil sand deposits contain 1.7 trillion barrels of bitumen, of which over 300 billion are recoverable by current technology. The total amount is greater than the known reserves of Saudi Arabia.
Oil sand is visible on the banks of the Athabasca River, north and south of Fort McMurray, but most of the oil sand in the area lies buried 50 metres or deeper under muskeg and overburden.
The origin of the oil is a controversial subject among geologists, but the predominant theory is that it evolved in highly organic Cretaceous shales in the southern portion of the Alberta Sedimentary Basin. Underground pressure forced the oil to soak into the existing silt grade sediments and localized sand bodies of the McMurray formation.
syncrude.com
My Chevron neighbor just told me Gulf Oil and Chevron did some relationship merge thing a dozen plus years ago...anyone know about it? That is why I went to SEARCH?!
Chucka
P.S.- NEW TECHNOLOGY HAS BECOME- Standard Mining; thus, is NEWTECH MINING, and with more tweeking there will be more GOLDS and PGMs. Really. The WORLD of Mining can be affected all over at all levels. Bulk Tonnages at "Surface Alluviums" rather than Hard Rock "Underground Mines" as the Predominant Mines of the Next Century will be born. Limestones( and Dolomites and Shales) of the Rocky Mountain Chain and their Basins, Platforms and EVEN THE Various Canadian Shields will all be involved! You see, the Failed or "Leaky Oil Fields" of areas IN THE NEVADA CARLIN TREND have been theorized to have helped to create the Models of Encapsulated Enrichment of Metals From Deep beneath to the Top Surfaces! Even Birch Mountain found that the Yankee Gold Mine in NV was of this Model at the Carlin Trend and hense discussed this PG Model Publicaly at their June AGM. We must follow the trend. Ha, the trend is your friend! Capping is another discussion. Layers. Yankee Gold Mine @ The Carlin Trend was showing a Temperature Depth Model & was posted a month ago on a site(9 mid July), see prior post here, somewhere.
Now some Syncrude.com Click on "Seperation Tech" ...the ONLY PLACE IN THE WORLD COMMENT on the Geology factor I study(*ied) these last years : UNIQUENESS!
Separation Processes
Target: Efficient recovery of bitumen!
The oil sands industry in Alberta is unique. It is the only place in the world where oil is produced by digging it out of the ground.
Similarly, the processes Syncrude uses to separate bitumen from oil sand are also unique and are not used anywhere else.
That's why developing bitumen separation processes has been at the heart of Syncrude's research efforts for nearly 40 years.
After oil sand is mined, the bitumen has to be separated from the sand before it can be upgraded and shipped to refineries as Syncrude Sweet Blend (SSB). Syncrude completes this in two steps. First, the oil sand is washed with hot water (extracted) to remove most of the sand and clay. The result is a sticky froth that still contains a lot of water and solids. Second, the froth is diluted (treated) with a light hydrocarbon to cause the water and solids to settle quickly, leaving a diluted bitumen with only traces of water and solids. After boiling off the light hydrocarbon, the bitumen is ready to be converted into SSB.
While Syncrude's bitumen separation processes recover most of the bitumen in oil sand and produce a product fairly low in solids, they're not perfect. That is why the extraction experts at Research continually strive to recover all of the bitumen in the oil sand that Syncrude mines with the goal of sending pure bitumen to the upgrading area.
The Syncrude Research Centre has a variety of laboratory and pilot-scale equipment that allows scientists to focus on each step of the bitumen separation process. Over the years, this continuous improvement work has resulted in a number of process additions and more bitumen being recovered and sent to the upgrading area.
Research is also developing alternative processes that go beyond incremental improvement in an effort to find solutions for extracting bitumen from the oil sands. All types of work rely heavily on support from the department's analytical specialists and are carried out in collaboration with research partners from industry, academia and government under the umbrella of CONRAD, the Canadian Oilsands Network for Research and Development.
For more information contact:
Bob Shaw
Tel: (780) 970-6918
Fax: (780) 970-6805
Internet:
shaw.robert@syncrude.com Syncrude Research Centre
9421 - 17th Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6N 1H4
Tel: (780) 970-6800
Fax: (780) 970-6805
PS Reseach area again COLLOIDS ..Fineness and So Fine...tailings Management 101..or 202:
Gaining "bigger" insight through "smaller" studies
In an industrial operation as big as Syncrude's, it is often the "small" problems that require the greatest understanding. That's also where the knowledge gained through colloid and surface science becomes tremendously beneficial.
Complex dispersions of finely divided solids, liquids and gases known as colloids exist everywhere in Syncrude's mining, extraction and upgrading operations. Oil sand, bitumen, froth, fine tailings and virtually every one of the plant's intermediate process streams are all colloids. Everyday examples are milk, soap foam, soil and clay.
In colloids the dispersed bubbles, droplets or particles are very small -- about the size of bacteria. Because they are so tiny and numerous, their surface properties determine not only how they interact but also the overall properties of the mixtures. To better understand and improve Syncrude's process streams, it is essential to thoroughly understand these colloidal systems.
A team of researchers at Syncrude carry out fundamental studies and collaborate with their colleagues in the broader technical community. Most of their work focuses on the behaviour of bitumen droplets in oil sand slurries, on the stability of water droplets in diluted bitumen, and on the interactions between mineral particles in fine tailings. In addition to unraveling the science of these colloidal systems, this team provides technical support to others engaged in applied research or problem solving activities with these same streams. Following are two examples of the benefits of colloid science.
Emulsions in diluted bitumen
Once bitumen has been extracted from oil sand, most of the water and solids have been removed. Even so, tiny droplets of water (about three to five microns in diameter) still remain in the bitumen. These droplets contain dissolved salts and very fine solids that are carried along with the bitumen into the upgrading area where the salts lead to corrosion. Through colloid science, Syncrude has discovered how to modify the chemical properties of diluted bitumen so more of these droplets will be removed in the extraction process.
Fine Tailings
Tiny clay particles that occur naturally in oil sand are dispersed in water while the bitumen is being extracted. Because these particles are so small, they settle extremely slowly and eventually form a gel-like substance, made mostly of water, called mature fine tailings. If the dispersed particles could be made to stick together and grow into larger groups, the tailings would dewater faster and there would be less to contain. The released water would then detoxify through natural processes. Through research, Syncrude is gaining a better understanding of this colloidal system and of potential solutions for managing fine tailings. |
