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After oil extraction, the spent sand and other materials are then returned to the mine, which is eventually reclaimed. Alberta Taciuk Process technology extracts bitumen from oil sands through a dry retorting. During this process, oil sand is moved through a rotating drum, cracking the bitumen with heat and producing lighter hydrocarbons ...
Several methods use solvents, instead of steam, to separate bitumen from sand. Some solvent extraction methods may work better in in situ production and other in mining. [71] Solvent can be beneficial if it produces more oil while requiring less energy to produce steam. Vapor Extraction Process (VAPEX) is an in situ technology, similar to SAGD ...
Researchers began to look for ways to extract the bitumen from the sand. The Alberta Research Council set up two pilot plants in Edmonton and a third at the Clearwater River. These plants were part of a successful project (led by the Research Council's Dr. Karl A. Clark) to develop a hot water process to separate the oil from the sands. In 1930 ...
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]
In 1977 Strausz published his article on the chemistry of the oil sands, then also known as the tar sands attending the conference that year entitled the Symposium on Tar Sand and Oil Shale. [ 6 ] By 2003 with the rising price of oil , and the improvement of enhanced recovery techniques such as thermal in-situ methods, the Peace River oil sands ...
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 Long Lake project uses SAGD to extract bitumen from the underground oil sands. The process involves using two separate horizontal wells into the reservoir. One well is used to inject steam, which reduces the viscosity of the bitumen. The previously stable bitumen then drains into the second well, which extracts it to the surface.
Bituminous sands are mined using enormous (100-ton capacity) power shovels and loaded into even larger (400-ton capacity) dump trucks for movement to an upgrading facility. The process used to extract the bitumen from the sand is a hot water process originally developed by Dr. Karl Clark of the University of Alberta during the 1920s.