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The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of oil sands rich in bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market.
According to Greenpeace, the Canadian oil sands operations use 349 × 10 ^ 6 m 3 /a (12.3 × 10 ^ 9 cu ft/a) of water, twice the amount of water used by the city of Calgary. [152] However, in SAGD operations, 90–95% of the water is recycled and only about 0.2 volume units of water is used per volume unit of bitumen produced. [153]
Their carbon footprints, however, are radically different: conventional reservoirs use the natural energy in the environment to flow oil and gas to the surface unaided; unconventional reservoirs require putting energy into the ground for extraction, either as heat (e.g. tar sands and oil shales) or as pressure (e.g. shale gas and CBM).
The use of either of these forms of resources beyond their rate of replacement is considered to be resource depletion. [1] The value of a resource is a direct result of its availability in nature and the cost of extracting the resource. The more a resource is depleted the more the value of the resource increases. [2]
IARC has classified paving asphalt fumes as a Class 2B possible carcinogen, indicating inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans. [ 114 ] In 2020, scientists reported that bitumen currently is a significant and largely overlooked source of air pollution in urban areas, especially during hot and sunny periods.
Ten degrees API is the gravity of water. Light oils use a higher API number. Generally heavier than water, bitumen typically has an API of 8-10 degrees API. Gravity refers to the weight spectrum of hydrocarbons, which increases with the ratio of hydrogen to carbon in a chemical compound's molecule. Methane (CH
One can produce a tar-like substance from corn stalks by heating them in a microwave oven. This process is known as pyrolysis. Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. [1]
Tar pit at Tierra La Brea, Trinidad An anticlinal trap is feeding the tar pit on the surface through the vertical fracture in the strata (indicated by the red arrow). Once the crude oil reaches the surface, evaporation takes place and lighter hydrocarbons are vaporized, leaving behind sticky asphalt.