Tar sands, also known as oil sands, consist of bitumen mixed with sand, clay and water. Tar sands deposits are mined using large excavators or heated using steam injected wells to extract the bitumen. Extracting oil from tar sands is more complex than conventional oil and requires separating the bitumen from other materials using hot water. Canada has the largest commercial tar sand operations, producing about 40% of its oil from tar sands. A byproduct of tar sands extraction and upgrading is petroleum coke or "petcoke", a solid carbon material that is often exported and used as a coal substitute or additive due to its low cost.
Tar sands, also known as oil sands, consist of bitumen mixed with sand, clay and water. Tar sands deposits are mined using large excavators or heated using steam injected wells to extract the bitumen. Extracting oil from tar sands is more complex than conventional oil and requires separating the bitumen from other materials using hot water. Canada has the largest commercial tar sand operations, producing about 40% of its oil from tar sands. A byproduct of tar sands extraction and upgrading is petroleum coke or "petcoke", a solid carbon material that is often exported and used as a coal substitute or additive due to its low cost.
Tar sands, also known as oil sands, consist of bitumen mixed with sand, clay and water. Tar sands deposits are mined using large excavators or heated using steam injected wells to extract the bitumen. Extracting oil from tar sands is more complex than conventional oil and requires separating the bitumen from other materials using hot water. Canada has the largest commercial tar sand operations, producing about 40% of its oil from tar sands. A byproduct of tar sands extraction and upgrading is petroleum coke or "petcoke", a solid carbon material that is often exported and used as a coal substitute or additive due to its low cost.
Faculty of Engineering Syiah Kuala University Darussalam, Banda Aceh 2017 What Are Tar Sands? Tar sands (also referred to as oil sands) are a combination of clay, sand, water, and bitumen, a heavy black viscous oil. Tar sands can be mined and processed to extract the oil- rich bitumen, which is then refined into oil. The bitumen in tar sands cannot be pumped from the ground in its natural state; instead tar sand deposits are mined. Tar Sands
Tar Sands Open Pit Mining,
Alberta, Canada
Tar Sands Open Pit
Mining, Alberta, Canada Extracting oil from tar sands is more complex than conventional oil recovery. Oil sands recovery processes include extraction and separation systems to separate the bitumen from the clay, sand, and water that make up the tar sands. Tar sands is very different to conventional oil. It is not a liquid. It is semi-solid. Tar sands are, in effect, carbon rich and hydrogen poor. The spectrum of fossil fuels, their carbon content and value Tar Sands Resources Much of the world's oil (more than 2 trillion barrels) is in the form of tar sands, although it is not all recoverable. Tar sands are found in many places worldwide, the largest deposits in the world are found in Canada (Alberta) and Venezuela, and much of the rest is found in various countries in the Middle East. The Tar Sands Industry Currently, oil is not produced from tar sands on a significant commercial level. Only Canada has a large-scale commercial tar sands industry (about 40% of Canada's oil production). The higher carbon content in bitumen is a large part of the reason it takes more energy to extract and process. Tar Sands Extraction and Processing Tar sands deposits near the surface can be recovered by open pit mining techniques. After mining, the tar sands are transported to an extraction plant, where a hot water process separates the bitumen from sand, water, and minerals. About two tons of tar sands are required to produce one barrel of oil. Tar sands extraction and processing require several barrels of water for each barrel of oil produced After oil extraction, the spent sand and other materials are then returned to the mine, which is eventually reclaimed. Tar Sand Extraction Open-pit mining Uses massive excavators to load oily dirt into dump trucks the size of houses. The tar sands oil is then hauled to plants for initial processing. In-situ drilling The in-situ process involves burning natural gas above ground to generate steam which is then forced into pipes drilled deep beneath the forest floor. Heat emanating from these pipes melts bitumen, which gathers in wells before being pumped up to the surface. in situ production : the bitumen needs to be heated with steam for weeks to enable it to flow into a production well. Tar Sand Processes In-situ drilling Tar Sands Bitumen freshly extracted from an in situ well Canada Tar Sand extraction. Canada Tar Sand extraction. Syncrude Aurora tar sands mine, Alberta, Canada Canadian tar sands projects vs. IEA scenarios. Canadian Natural Resources Limiteds SAGD (in situ tar sands) operation, Alberta, Canada. Canada What is Petcoke?
The carbon removed during extracting process does
not simply disappear. In most cases it remains behind as a byproduct of the refining process. This byproduct is petcoke. 15 to 30 percent of a barrel of bitumen can end up as petcoke, depending on the upgrading and refining process used. The increasing production of tar sands bitumen and other heavy oils is leading to a boom in petcoke production. Keystone XL refineries (USA) are among the biggest petcoke factories in the world. The growth in petcoke production capacity at U.S. refineries Canadian petcoke production at upgraders in Alberta and Saskatchewan alone, (excluding petcoke produced at Canadian refineries) was nearly 10 million tons (9 million metric tons) in 2011. Canadian petcoke exports short tons. The economics of blending petcoke with coal. END OF LECTURE