Oilsands 2009
With over 175 billion barrels of proven reserves, the oil sands of Alberta are a major source of energy supply, with rapid growth in production and exports. The recovery of this oil is expensive, with significant environmental impact through water use and energy consumption. This symposium will present research leading to new technologies for oil sands production, both through surface mining and in situ methods. The emphasis will be on minimizing the environmental impact associated with production and extraction of the oil, and reducing the energy consumption. The applications of nanotechnology and biology to the oil sands will be explored.
Scope
This topical series of symposia are devoted to oil sands production and processing, including extraction, water treatment, in situ production, and applications of nanotechnology and biology.
The proposed topics are :
Environmental Aspects of Oil Sands
The production from the oil sands is having an increasing impact on the environment, through atmospheric emissions, water consumption, and land use patterns. This session will consider the impacts of oil sands production and new technologies to minimize the environmental impact.
Oil Sands and Water Treatment
The management of the tailings in the oil sands is a major issue to future expansion of the oil sands mining industry. In the in situ production from the oil sands, treatment and recycling of process water is major concern. This session will examine the options for recovering water from the tailings, and for treating process water from extraction and in situ production.
Nanotechnology in Oil Sands Processing
Nanotechnology has two important applications to the oil sands; the self assembly of molecules in the liquid phase and at solid and liquid interfaces; and nanoparticles that occur naturally and in catalysts. This session will examine the application of new techniques from nanotechnology to the oil sands.
In Situ Oil Sands Recovery
Existing in situ recovery processes such as CSS and SAGD are energy intensive and have a large impact on the environment both in terms of emissions to atmosphere and water consumption and handling. This session will examine the application of improved and new recovery processes to the oil sands.
Biology and Oil Sands Recovery
Recently, there have been advances in the understanding of biological processes in heavy oil reservoirs. Adaptations of these processes towards petroleum recovery have the potential to be viable and environmentally friendly with low energy intensity. This session will examine the application of biological recovery processes to the oil sands.
Publication
This symposium will be included in the WCCE8 proceedings.
Organizers
Dr Zhenghe Xu
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2G6
zhenghe.xu@ualberta.ca
Dr Ian Gates
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
University of Calgary
2500 University Drive N.W.
Calgary, Alberta
CANADA T2N 1N4
ian.gates@ucalgary.ca
Dr Jan Czarnecki
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB T6G 2G6
jc7@ualberta.ca