Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:03 pm Post subject: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less energy
I posted this in this thread here, but I think this is important enough to warrant its own thread here in the Energy Technology section.
Peakers and doomers like to cite the restricted availability of water from the Athabasca River as one of the obstacles on the amount of oil that can be extracted from the Canadian oil sands. Unfortunately for them, human ingenuity comes to the rescue once again!
Environmental concerns played a large role in planning for the expansion, George said.
"We've worked very hard here in terms of continuing to reduce and minimize our impact on water land and air resources,'' he said.
George said Suncor has already reduced its water use 50 per cent per barrel over the last five years and there is no new increase in its licence to take water from Athabasca river.
Because Voyager will rely on in-situ mining at the Firebag reservoir, rather than open-pit mining, less land disturbance will be caused and George said Suncor will continue to invest in technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, already down 50 per cent since 1990.
Suncor will use the steam assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, process to get the oil out of the ground. That method uses ultra-hot steam to heat the bitumen up underground, making it thin enough to draw to the surface.
. . .
George said Suncor would also look into other technologies, though he didn't specify which kinds.
One promising method could be Toe-to-Heel Air Injection, patented by Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., which uses air and the bitumen itself to heat underground reserves. The THAI process requires no water and uses up significantly less energy than SAGD.
Now, let's find out a bit more about this Toe-to-Heel Air Injection, a.k.a THAI . . .
. . . THAI™ uses a system where air is injected into the oil deposit down a vertical well and is ignited. The heat generated in the reservoir reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a second, horizontal well from where it rises to the surface.
THAI™ is very efficient, recovering about 70 to 80 per cent of the oil, compared to only 10 to 40 per cent using other technologies . . .
Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: kiwibush
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:08 pm Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
I simply can't understand the likes of you. We've had all manner of inventions paraded on this site, all promising a range of snale oil treatments to cure my ailment, life on a finite planet. And you bring this on here to debunk my beliefs!
Of course they will find ingenious ways to extract the last morsel from the ground so as the 6 billion may get a chance to ride the new age of concrete and tarmac as far as the eye can see. Duh! _________________ Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:11 pm Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
americandream wrote:
I simply can't understand the likes of you. We've had all manner of inventions paraded on this site, all promising a range of snale oil treatments to cure my ailment, life on a finite planet. And you bring this on here to debunk my beliefs!
Of course they will find ingenious ways to extract the last morsel from the ground so as the 6 billion may get a chance to ride the new age of concrete and tarmac as far as the eye can see. Duh!
???
And your critique of the feasibility of this particular technology is . . .???
Not everyone wants to live like a forest hippie or an Amish. If you want to live like that, go ahead.
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
we've actually all been watching Petrobank and THAI for a while now. They have one of the few technologies that may make a difference in the downside of the PO curve if they can prove the technology is scaleable and usuable in a wide range of sites (which they haven't yet).
Ultimately its highly doubtfull that THAI will be able to replace the minimum decline rate of 2%/year of 86Mbrls/day. Just remember thats 1.72Mbrls/day with a growth rate of 100%. Right now I believe the Whitesands project (the only operating site) is producing 5000brls/day
And all that still doesn't address what all this new oil production is going to do to global warming which appears to be accelerating beyond worst case scenerios already.
Their symbol is PBG.TO
They finally broke $50 so they've just broken through their resistance point. But with a P/E ratio of 92 they're very speculative. But considering their potential a good stock to buy once we get through this little banking crisis/financial meltdown.
Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 1910 Location: kiwibush
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:32 pm Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Oil-Finder wrote:
americandream wrote:
I simply can't understand the likes of you. We've had all manner of inventions paraded on this site, all promising a range of snale oil treatments to cure my ailment, life on a finite planet. And you bring this on here to debunk my beliefs!
Of course they will find ingenious ways to extract the last morsel from the ground so as the 6 billion may get a chance to ride the new age of concrete and tarmac as far as the eye can see. Duh!
???
And your critique of the feasibility of this particular technology is . . .???
Not everyone wants to live like a forest hippie or an Amish. If you want to live like that, go ahead.
Oh yeah...I also want to be a mega billionaire and have a harem of women! Nuts! _________________ Bugger me, I hear oil's runnin out mate!
Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Oil-Finder wrote:
I posted this in this thread here, but I think this is important enough to warrant its own thread here in the Energy Technology section.
This already has a thread in the Energy Technology section. And I posted the link to this thread in a response to you last week, but if you skimmed over that response and discovered this subject on your own, well good for you...
So far the THAI discussion has gotten into likely trends for this technology, the pros and cons (like accidentally starting massive uncontained fires) and it's successes in the recovery of energy from thin coal seams, spent oil wells and oil shale. And the thread includes pictures of the latest full scale THAI installation.
This is an old topic and a method which will pump even more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. Which is a fairly doomerish scenario...
Also being the calm introspective person that you are, I'm sure you didn't mean to upset anyone with that declaration. But if you did mean to, we have a section of the site dedicated to arguing and insulting posters, it's called The Hall of Flames. When people want to start arguments, they often post there.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:04 am Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Sorry steam_cannon, I missed the other thread.
steam_cannon wrote:
This is an old topic and a method which will pump even more hydrocarbons into the atmosphere.
If they can figure out a way to get 70%-80% of the oil out of the sands with this method, I have great confidence they can figure out a way to reduce the amount of hydrocarbons this process will produce.
But at the very least, this addresses the water issue, which is still being repeated frequently on this forum despite the aforementioned thread already discussing this topic.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:17 am Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Oil-Finder wrote:
But at the very least, this addresses the water issue, which is still being repeated frequently on this forum despite the aforementioned thread already discussing this topic.
Yeah that's a good point and worth repeating. The water issue is becoming a problem for current technologies, but Toe to Heel may be the new way of doing things. So yeah, spread that around. This won't solve todays problems, but five or ten years from now this will probably play a big part in the oil, gas and coal industries...
Last edited by steam_cannon on Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:04 pm; edited 1 time in total
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:19 am Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Oil-Finder wrote:
Sorry steam_cannon, I missed the other thread.
You missed the other thread? There are hundreds of other threads you missed! And you would probably ignore all of them because you are a boring troll who has yet to succeed at your obvious mission: debunk the serious consequence of the end of oil. You are a tiresome bore oily. _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:26 am Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
pstarr wrote:
You missed the other thread? There are hundreds of other threads you missed! And you would probably ignore all of them because you are a boring troll who has yet to succeed at your obvious mission: debunk the serious consequence of the end of oil. You are a tiresome bore oily.
Sorry. That thread was created in August and I did not join this forum until December. But it would hardly be the first time someone created another thread on a topic that's already been discussed.
I am a troll to you because you cannot successfully counter my points, and I have already proven you wrong several times in my brief time here.
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:36 am Post subject: Re: Oil sands extraction without using water + using less en
Oil-Finder wrote:
pstarr wrote:
You missed the other thread? There are hundreds of other threads you missed! And you would probably ignore all of them because you are a boring troll who has yet to succeed at your obvious mission: debunk the serious consequence of the end of oil. You are a tiresome bore oily.
Sorry. That thread was created in August and I did not join this forum until December. But it would hardly be the first time someone created another thread on a topic that's already been discussed.
I am a troll to you because you cannot successfully counter my points, and I have already proven you wrong several times in my brief time here.
You have humiliated yourself on this and many forums and you have brought shame to your family and tribe. You must be debunked and deloused _________________ ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap
All times are GMT - 6 Hours Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Next
Page 1 of 8
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
News
Discussions
Resources
Members
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
ree rah rip ram. sunofabitch godamn. hidey didey christ almighty. rah rah crap 
