Optimal integration of nuclear energy and water management into the oil sands operations

Betancourt‐Torcat, Alberto; Elkamel, Ali; Ricardez‐Sandoval, Luis A.

doi:10.1002/aic.13736

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Ordorica-Garcia et al [11] and Betancourt-Torcat et al [12] focus on optimizing the costs for energy demands in oil sand industry. Similarly [13][14][15][16] study the carbon reduction technologies from economic aspect but do not detail the estimation of GHG emissions from specific oil sand projects. Other studies [17][18][19] answer different questions and do not suffice for calculating project-specific energy consumption and emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the recovery and extraction of crude bitumen from Canada’s oil sands

2015

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the recovery and extraction of crude bitumen from Canada’s oil sands

2015

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“…They applied the model on two case studies for the operational years 2003 and 2020. In a later work they incorporated nuclear energy for power and steam production, and also imposed an additional environmental constraint (i.e., water withdrawal limits from the Athabasca River) (Betancourt-Torcat et al, 2012a). The model was formulated as a mixed integer non-linear programming model and was applied for a case study for the oil sands 2030 operational year.…”

Section: Indices Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the sequential approach the existence of a mix of energy infrastructure influences investment decisions in the following investigated period. The preference of the model to Table 4 Key techno-economic parameters (Ordorica-Garcia et al, 2007;Ordorica-Garcia et al, 2008;Betancourt-Torcat et al, 2011;Betancourt-Torcat et al, 2012a;Betancourt-Torcat et al, 2013).…”

Section: Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimized integration of renewable energy technologies into Alberta’s oil sands industry

Elsholkami

Elkamel

Vargas

2016

Computers & Chemical Engineering

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a b s t r a c tAn energy optimization model for the integration of renewable technologies into the energy infrastructure of the oil sands industry is presented. The proposed model determines the optimal configuration of oil producers and the energy infrastructure required to meet their energy demands. The model is geared toward the minimization of cost subject to carbon dioxide emission constraints. A mixed integer non-linear optimization model is developed that simultaneously optimizes capacity expansion and new investment decisions of conventional and renewable energy technologies. To illustrate its applicability, the proposed model was applied to a case study using data reported in the literature for various years of oil sands operations. A rolling horizon approach was implemented to determine the effect of investment decisions of previous operational years on the selection of new investment options. Results were compared with and without the incorporation of renewable energy technologies. The results obtained indicate that the proposed model is a practical tool that can be employed to evaluate and plan oil sands and energy producers for future scenarios. Moreover, the results show that renewable energy technologies have significant potential in reducing reliance on fossil-fuel based technologies and their associated CO 2 emissions. The emission constraints set for the operational year 2025 can only be achieved by the incorporation of renewables in the energy production mix. (A. Elkamel). its viscosity for further transportation to be sold as commercial crude bitumen or to be upgraded to higher quality synthetic crude oil (SCO). Bitumen upgrading operations can be integrated with mining or steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) extraction operations, and they typically consist of hydrocracking or thermocracking processes to break the heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter ones. Mining extraction is typically employed for bitumen deposits located at depths up to 75 m. The oil sands are mined by electric and hydraulic shovels, which are then transported by trucks to separation units in which hot water and solvents are used to extract the bitumen from the oil sands mixture. In-situ methods are used for deep bitumen deposits that are located more than 75 m below the earth's surface, and they have been employed to recover deposits at depths within the range of 350-600 m below the surface. In-situ methods rely on the use of steam, solvents or thermal energy to extract the bitumen from the oil sands in order to enhance its flow, which is then pumped to the surface. The two prominent production technologies are mining and in-situ, the latter being more economically and environmentally preferable and will account to approximately two-thirds of future oil sands production capacity. Mining extraction is currently the dominant method used for bitumen extraction (

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“…1 With the excessive consumption of conventional crude oil and the burgeoning worldwide demand for petroleum, exploiting bitumen from oil sand ores has attracted much attention from both the industry and researchers. [2][3][4][5] Currently, the major technology used to process oil sands is the water-based extraction processes (WBEPs), which is traced back to the Clark hot water processes. 6 In water-based bitumen extraction processes, two key steps are involved 7,8 : the bitumen is first liberated from the sand grains and then the liberated bitumen is aerated and floated to the top of slurry to form a bitumen-rich froth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery technology in water‐based bitumen extraction from weathered oil sands

et al. 2014

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When using the water-based extraction processes (WBEPs) to recover bitumen from the weathered oil sands, very low bitumen recovery arisen from the poor liberation of bitumen from sand grains is always obtained. Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) technology in WBEPs to solve the poor processability of the weathered ore was proposed. It was found that processability of the microbial-treated weathered ore was greatly improved. The improved processability was attributed to the biosurfactants production in the culture solution, alteration of the solids wettability, degradation of the asphaltene component, and the decrease of the bitumen viscosity, which collectively contributed to the bitumen liberation from the surface of sand grains. Although it still has many issues to be solved for an industrial application of the MEOR technology in oil sands separation, it is believed that the findings in this work promote the solution to the poor processability of the weathered ore.

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Optimal integration of nuclear energy and water management into the oil sands operations

Cited by 16 publications

References 22 publications

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the recovery and extraction of crude bitumen from Canada’s oil sands

Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the recovery and extraction of crude bitumen from Canada’s oil sands

Optimized integration of renewable energy technologies into Alberta’s oil sands industry

Application of microbial enhanced oil recovery technology in water‐based bitumen extraction from weathered oil sands

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