Physics in the oil sands of Alberta (original) (raw)

Abstract

The recent spike in the price of oil to over US$140 per barrel focused worldwide attention on the need for more diverse supplies of fuel from unconventional sources and renewable resources. The oil sands of Alberta, the largest source of unconventional fuel for North America, are also the largest petroleum deposit on Earth. Sometimes called tar sands, they contain an estimated 2.5 trillion barrels of crude oil over an area of more than 140 000 square kilometers, but that oil, called bitumen, is too viscous to be extracted by conventional drilling. Large oil-sands deposits also exist in Venezuela, and smaller ones are found in Utah, western Africa, and Russia, but production from the Canadian deposits is the largest. Material from a typical commercially viable oil-sands deposit is shown in figure 1. It contains 9%-13% bitumen, 3%-7% water, and 80%-85% mineral solids. Of the solids, 15%-30% are fine particles, predominantly clays, less than 44 μm in diameter. The challenge in production is to separate the bitumen not only from the sand grains but also from the micron-and submicron-sized clay particles. Alberta's

Figures (8)

The recent spike in the price of oil to over US$140 per barrel focused worldwide attention on the need for more di- verse supplies of fuel from unconventional sources and re- newable resources. The oil sands of Alberta, the largest source of unconventional fuel for North America, are also the largest petroleum deposit on Earth. Sometimes called tar sands, they contain an estimated 2.5 trillion barrels of crude oil over an area of more than 140 000 square kilometers, but that oil, called bitumen, is too viscous to be extracted by con- ventional drilling. Large oil-sands deposits also exist in “ Material from a typical commercially viable oil-sands deposit is shown in figure 1. It contains 9%-13% bitumen, 3%-7% water, and 80%-85% mineral solids. Of the solids, 15%-30% are fine particles, predominantly clays, less than 44 um in diameter. The challenge in production is to separate the bitumen not only from the sand grains but also from the micron- and submicron-sized clay particles. Alberta’s

The recent spike in the price of oil to over US$140 per barrel focused worldwide attention on the need for more di- verse supplies of fuel from unconventional sources and re- newable resources. The oil sands of Alberta, the largest source of unconventional fuel for North America, are also the largest petroleum deposit on Earth. Sometimes called tar sands, they contain an estimated 2.5 trillion barrels of crude oil over an area of more than 140 000 square kilometers, but that oil, called bitumen, is too viscous to be extracted by con- ventional drilling. Large oil-sands deposits also exist in “ Material from a typical commercially viable oil-sands deposit is shown in figure 1. It contains 9%-13% bitumen, 3%-7% water, and 80%-85% mineral solids. Of the solids, 15%-30% are fine particles, predominantly clays, less than 44 um in diameter. The challenge in production is to separate the bitumen not only from the sand grains but also from the micron- and submicron-sized clay particles. Alberta’s

Europeans discovered the oil sands in the late 18th cen- tury along the banks of the Athabasca River, where erosion had exposed seams of oil sands that oozed bitumen on a warm summer afternoon. In the 1920s Karl Clark, of the Al- berta Research Council and the University of Alberta,

Europeans discovered the oil sands in the late 18th cen- tury along the banks of the Athabasca River, where erosion had exposed seams of oil sands that oozed bitumen on a warm summer afternoon. In the 1920s Karl Clark, of the Al- berta Research Council and the University of Alberta,

Oil sands buried under more than about 40 m of overburden cannot be economically accessed by mining operations, but ee: ee: P, Le eee The initial sedimentation of the clay particles follows the Masliyah-Lockett-Bassoon equation presented in the box. But as soon as the particles touch each other to form a loose net-

Oil sands buried under more than about 40 m of overburden cannot be economically accessed by mining operations, but ee: ee: P, Le eee The initial sedimentation of the clay particles follows the Masliyah-Lockett-Bassoon equation presented in the box. But as soon as the particles touch each other to form a loose net-

Figure 6. Droplets of water in diluted bitumen are coated with a skin of submicron particles. As a result, when they are (a) forced into contact and (b) allowed to separate, no coalescence takes place. (Courtesy of Anthony Yeung, Uni- versity of Alberta.)

Figure 6. Droplets of water in diluted bitumen are coated with a skin of submicron particles. As a result, when they are (a) forced into contact and (b) allowed to separate, no coalescence takes place. (Courtesy of Anthony Yeung, Uni- versity of Alberta.)

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