New SAIT lab looks to improve environmental performance in oilsands steam generation
Once Through Steam Generator lab looks to find solutions to critical and environmental challenges
A unique lab at SAIT is looking at new ways to use steam to get oil out of the oilsands, while leaving less residue behind.
The Once Through Steam Generator applied research lab is designed to find solutions to environmental challenges associatedwith steam generation for in situ oilsands.
It's the first lab-scale test rig in Canada using steam generation.
The technology has the potential to reduce water usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
Dave Rowley, a steam staff engineer with ConocoPhillips, says build up in machinery tubes in the oilsands can cause big problems.
"If you use the same mug of coffee over and over, you'll get that brownish film that builds up on the outside of your cup. That's very similar to what we experience in the oilsands in our steam generators," Rowley said.
Research could reduce emissions
When tube fouling is especially bad, it can shut down production and cost producers a lot of money.
Reheating those shutdown tubes also takes a lot of energy, which in-turn increases producers' emissions.
John Brogley, of Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, which represents 90 per cent of producers, says researchers are using a scaled replica of what's in the field as they search for ways to stop material buildup in internal tubing.
"What you want is to marry realism as close as you can get to what's happening in the field, with the kind of control you get in the laboratory setting.
As researchers learn how to prevent tube fouling, producers expect it could reduce emissions by four per cent per barrel.
SAIT officials said they hope within the five-year span of the test project, they will also find ways to increase the production of oil.
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With files from Lucie Edwardson