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Synthetic crude is the output from a bitumen/extra heavy oil upgrader facility used in connection with oil sand production. It may also refer to shale oil , an output from an oil shale pyrolysis . The properties of the synthetic crude depend on the processes used in the upgrading.
Worldwide, geologists tend to favor the term bitumen for the naturally occurring material. For the manufactured material, which is a refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils, bitumen is the prevalent term in much of the world; however, in American English, asphalt is more commonly used. To help avoid confusion, the ...
An upgrader is a facility that upgrades bitumen (extra heavy oil) into synthetic crude oil. Upgrader plants are typically located close to oil sands production, for example, the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada or the Orinoco tar sands in Venezuela.
The production of bitumen and synthetic crude oil emits more greenhouse gases than the production of conventional crude oil. A 2009 study by the consulting firm IHS CERA estimated that production from Canada's oil sands emits "about 5% to 15% more carbon dioxide, over the "well-to-wheels" (WTW) lifetime analysis of the fuel, than average crude ...
Synthetic crude may also be created by upgrading bitumen (a tar like substance found in oil sands), or synthesizing liquid hydrocarbons from oil shale. There are a number of processes extracting shale oil (synthetic crude oil) from oil shale by pyrolysis, hydrogenation, or thermal dissolution. [14] [43]
The most common diluent used to dilute bitumen is natural gas condensate (NGC), especially the naphtha component. [5] Due to insufficient quantity of natural gas condensate in Alberta, bitumen shippers also use refined naptha and synthetic crude oil (SCO) as diluent, and import a considerable amount from the U.S. [6] Although SCO requires a higher volume percentage to achieve the same ...
All three of these mines are associated with bitumen upgraders that convert the unusable bitumen into synthetic crude oil for shipment to refineries in Canada and the United States. For Albian, the upgrader is at Scotford, 439 km south. The bitumen, diluted with a solvent, is transferred there in a 610 mm (24 in) corridor pipeline.
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitutes inorganic substance and bitumens.