Greenhouse gas reduction in oil sands upgrading and extraction operations with thermochemical hydrogen production
✍ Scribed by Z.L. Wang; G.F. Naterer
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 798 KB
- Volume
- 35
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0360-3199
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✦ Synopsis
This paper examines various methods of reducing CO 2 emissions by a thermochemical copperechlorine (CueCl) cycle of hydrogen production, for in-situ extraction and upgrading of bitumen to synthetic crude oil in Alberta's oil sands. Particular focus is given to Canada's SCWR (Supercritical Water-cooled Reactor) as a nuclear heat source for the CueCl cycle, although other heat sources such as solar or industrial waste heat can be utilized. The feasibility of steam generation from supercritical water of a SCWR power plant is examined for bitumen extraction, as well as hydrogen production for bitumen upgrading via an integrated CueCl cycle with SCWR. The heat requirements for bitumen extraction from the oil sands, and the hydrogen requirements for bitumen upgrading, are examined. A new layout of oil sands upgrading operations with integrated SCWR and a CueCl cycle is presented. The reduction of CO 2 emissions due to the integrated SCWR and CueCl cycle is quantitatively investigated based on the expected bitumen production capacity over the next two decades.