1 / 11

Alberta Tar Sands

Dive into the world's largest oil reserve in Alberta, Canada, where 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of bitumen lie beneath the sands. Explore mining and in situ production methods, refining processes, and the environmental concerns surrounding oil sands extraction.

nolanj
Download Presentation

Alberta Tar Sands

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Alberta Tar Sands Is it good for Canada?

  2. Alberta Oil Sands Area

  3. The Resource • Alberta's oil sands contain the biggest known reserve of oil in the world. An estimated 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of oil are trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay. Bitumen is a heavy, carbon rich, extremely viscous oil. The percentage of bitumen in oil sand can range from 1% -20%.

  4. Mining Production • Roughly 500 km2 of the 140,000 km2 oil sands deposit in Northern Alberta is currently undergoing surface mining activity. Oil sands within 75 m of the surface are mined using electric and hydraulic shovels with a capacity of 45 m3 and trucks that can carry up to 400 tons of ore that take three passes to fill.

  5. In Situ Production • In situ recovery is used for bitumen deposits buried too deeply - more than 75 m - for mining to be practical. • Most in situ bitumen and heavy oil production comes from deposits buried more than 350-600 m below the surface. • Steam, solvents or thermal energy make the bitumen flow to the point that it can be pumped by a well to the surface. • Cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) and steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) are effective in situ recovery methods. • No tailings ponds are required for in situ methods of recovery. Sand remains in the ground; only bitumen is removed.

  6. Refining the Bitumen • Step 1: distillation. Separates various compounds by physical properties. • Step 2: coking, hydro-conversion, solvent deasphalting. Improves hydrogen to carbon ratio. • Step 3: hydrotreating. Removes contaminants such as sulphur.

  7. Most Goes to the U.S.A.

  8. Pipelines to U.S.A.

  9. Environmental Issues Approximately 2 tonnes of oil sands are needed to produce 1 barrel of oil • Non-renewable Resource • Global Warming (CO2) • Water Pollution (Heavy Metals) • Water Use (2-4L water needed to make 1L oil) • Toxic “Tailings” Ponds (waste left over) • Air Pollution (Hydrogen sulfide gas released from crude) • Deforestation (clearing trees) • Habitat Destruction (removing top soil)

More Related