Synergy Reports Successful Heavy Oil Upgrading Tests; Results Rival or Exceed Effectiveness of Competing Technologies
CALGARY, Alberta, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Synergy Technologies Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: OILS - news) today said it has achieved ``excellent'' results from the testing of its proprietary CPJ process for the upgrading of heavy oil to more valuable lighter oil.
The tests, whose products were analyzed by the Canadian and Alberta governments' research alliance, the National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT), found CPJ scored high marks in major criteria usually used to evaluate the effectiveness of heavy oil upgrading processes.
Specifically, CPJ successfully upgraded a 13 API gravity heavy oil to 30-plus API gravity lighter oil while achieving liquid volume yields of over 90 percent and roughly a 50 percent reduction in sulfur content.
Liquid volume yield, or the portion of lighter oil actually produced from a given volume of heavy oil, usually measures 70 to 80 percent in conventional heavy oil upgrading processes. Reduction of sulfur content makes an upgraded lighter oil less polluting and significantly more valuable than the original heavy crude.
In addition, said Synergy, the tests substantiated CPJ's unique ability to maximize production of specific, higher value distillates such as diesel and naphtha, while minimizing production of the vacuum gas oils, and ``bottoms.'' In effect the CPJ process can tailor upgraded heavy oil to suit refineries with regards to product slate.
Finally, said the company, CPJ's upgraded heavy oil can be pipelined to refineries without the addition of costly condensate diluents currently used to reduce the viscosity of the heavy oil blend to meet pipeline specifications. Heavy oil currently requires 30 to 40% condensate to be added as diluents.
The testing was performed at the company's laboratory facility in Calgary by Synergy's subsidiary, Carbon Resources Ltd.
CPJ utilizes an instantaneous thermal transfer in conjunction with mechanical shear from high temperature steam, rather than injected hydrogen gas, to split the very large hydrocarbon molecules comprising heavy oil, forming lighter oils. As a result, the technology is believed to offer up to 70 percent savings over competing technologies.
``We are very excited about our heavy oil upgrading test results,'' said Synergy CEO John Gradek. ``We are highly confident these findings will play a major role in accelerating the licensing and commercialization of this outstanding technology.''
High API gravity oils are more easily transportable and thus, more readily marketable than lower API gravity oils. Thirty-plus API gravity oils generally elicit relatively higher per-barrel prices when purchased for manufacture of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel and other widely used fuels.
Upgraded heavy oil, which currently makes up 6 to 10 percent of the 75 million barrels per day of worldwide oil production, is expected to increase to 25 percent of worldwide oil production over the next decade.
Synergy Technologies Corporation is a technology development company with a focus on bringing new, energy-related technologies to market.
The National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT) is Canada's leading government institution providing research and technical services to Canadian companies engaged in the heavy oil industry. Additional information on the organization can be found at www.ncut.com. |
