R&D 89
An innovative technology could cut
SAGD fuel costs and CO2 emissions
Results from a steam assisted
gravity drainage (SAGD) pilot
project and the track record of
an emulsion fuel first used in
Venezuela in the late 1980s suggest that
the technological equivalent of a magic
bullet for some oilsands facilities could be
waiting in the wings—even perhaps just
around the corner.
There is a technology being tested in
the oilsands that could dramatically cut
dependence on natural gas as a fuel
source, provide an alternative to diluent
for pipeline transport, and with the addition of a further technology, enable
sequestration of virtually all carbon dioxide produced at a SAGD facility.
The new emulsion fuel is being developed for commercial application in
Alberta by Quadrise Canada, a Calgary-based subsidiary of a British company.
The fuel can be created from a range of
feedstocks, but in Alberta’s oilsands
region, raw bitumen or post-upgrade
“bottom-of-the-barrel” residues are the
most likely candidates. The ratio of hydrocarbon to water in a emulsion fuel of this
kind is typically seven to three.
With the help of scientists at BP PLC,
an earlier emulsion fuel called Orimulsion
was first developed at PdVSA, the
Venezuelan national energy company, to
transport bitumen from the inland
Orinoco region to ports for shipping. It’s
been commercially available since the
early 1990s and has mostly been used as
a boiler fuel for electric power generation. Denmark, Italy, Germany, Japan,
China, and Canada are among the customers for this product.
A New Brunswick power plant has
been using Orimulsion since the mid-
1990s, and in 2004, the province’s
Coleson Cove generating plant began
the process of conversion from heavy
fuel oil to Orimulsion to heat its boilers.
However, supply problems from
Venezuela hurt the project. Partly
because of export quotas of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries, PdVSA stopped marketing
Orimulsion overseas for new projects.
Wartsila Corporation, a Finnish company that makes engines for ships and
stationary engines for power plants, also
builds engines that use Orimulsion
instead of diesel, says Paul Smith, the
company’s Maryland-based vice-president
for the Americas. As a diesel alternative,
Orimulsion’s competitive ace in the
hole is its cost.
“Currently, what [Orimulsion]
we use is half the price of diesel.
Capital costs are a little higher, as it’s
a different engine,” Smith explains.
His company is in discussions with
Quadrise on the new emulsion fuel.
Given this track record, apart
from the supply issue, why is the
Canadian subsidiary of a British
company spending more than a million dollars a year on research and
development for its proprietary
emulsion fuel?
The new emulsion fuel developed by Quadrise in the last couple
of years is called Multiphase
Superfine Atomized Residue
(MSAR). The emulsion is a liquid
fuel that consists of very fine hydrocarbon droplets (of 2 to 10 microns
in diameter, depending on requirements) suspended in water with the
help of surfactants. Quadrise says
MSAR has several advantages over
its predecessor, not the least of
which is its combustion characteristics similar to natural gas. These inclu de a
