Oil sands upgraders are all about turning a their molecular structures. The higher the
sow’s ear into a silk purse. They take temperature, the faster these reactions will
low-value bitumen and turn it into happen.
high-value synthetic crude oil.
This is sometimes called “cracking” because
Currently, there are four upgraders in Alberta large hydrocarbon molecules can be
with a capacity to produce around 800,000 cracked, or broken down, into smaller
barrels per day of synthetic crude oil. With molecules.
expansions and new capacity, that number
is expected to climb to 2. 3 million barrels Coking is particularly useful for upgrading
per day over the next decade. The expansion bitumen into lighter, refineable
of upgrading capacity is needed, according hydrocarbons like naphtha, kerosene
to North West Upgrading president Rob distillates and gas oils, and it concentrates
Pearce. North West is in the process of extra carbon into a material called “coke.”
developing a merchant upgrader in the Coke is considered a byproduct of the
Edmonton area with a capacity to produce coking process. Currently, oil sands
231,000 barrels per day of synthetic crude. companies use two types of coking to
upgrade bitumen: delayed coking and fluid
“Alberta’s oil sands are a vast resource which coking.
is proven but remains largely undeveloped,”
he explains. “If we are to realize maximum Delayed coking is a process where bitumen
value for that resource, we need to do more is heated to 500 degrees Celsius, then
value-added processing in the province. pumped into one side of a double-sided
Alberta cannot be satisfied shipping raw coker. The bitumen cracks into two
bitumen to market and simply receiving a products—solid coke and gas vapour. It
corresponding low value for it.” takes approximately 12 hours to fill one side
with coke. When one coke drum is full, the
heated bitumen is diverted into the second
side of the coker in the pair to continue the
cracking process. A high-pressure water drill
is used to cut the solid coke out of the first
coking drum.
Bitumen is upgraded by removing carbon
atoms, adding hydrogen atoms or doing
both. It is a complex multi-step process.
The initial step in upgrading is removing
the naphtha using a simple distillation
process.
Thermal conversion, or coking, involves
breaking apart the long, heavy
hydrocarbon molecules using heat. When
hydrocarbons are subjected to high
temperatures they will react and change
The fluid coking process is similar, except it
is a continuous process and it only uses one
coking drum. The bitumen is heated to 500
degrees Celsius, but instead of pumping the
bitumen, it is sprayed in a fine mist around
the entire height and circumference of the
coker. The bitumen cracks into gas vapour
Bitumen Upgraders in Alberta
Company-Project Volume (barrels per day) Comment
Suncor 277,000 Existing
Syncrude 301,000 Existing
Husky-Lloydminster 77,000 Existing
Albian-Scotford 155,000 Existing
Suncor
Syncrude
Husky-Lloydminster
Albian-Scotford
Nexen/OP TI-Long Lake
CNRL-Horizon
SynEnCo-Northern Lights
BA Energy-Heartland
Petro-Canada/UTS-Fort Hills
Petro-Canada
North West Upgrading
Total
235,000 Expansion (Firebag and Steepbank)
180,000 Phased expansion
5,000 Expansion
150,000 Expansion with plans for a total of 500,000 barrels per day
70,000 New
233,000 New-only phases 1 to 3
100,000 New-with 2-phased expansion
226,000 New-first phase 75,500 barrels per day.
3-phased expansion
50,000 New
135,000 Change refinery to upgrader/refinery
150,000 New with 3-phased expansion
2,344,000
Upgrading construction is keeping pace with production increases
SOURCE: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
Marketing
Timing right for upgrader
boom
It is axiomatic in business that being in
the right place at the right time often
results in success. To ensure success,
however, it is necessary to have the
right plan.
In this instance, the right time turns on
being part of the leading wave of
businesses developing new
opportunities around burgeoning
expansion and production in Alberta’s
oil sands. The right place is Sturgeon
County, part of the Industrial Heartland,
northeast of Edmonton—a physical
location that is helping redefine oil
sands opportunities in geographic
terms. And the right plan is what the
experienced team leading North West
Upgrading Inc. believe they have for
their merchant upgrader project.
Indeed, the multi-billion dollar North
West project—now into the regulatory
approval stage—in many ways
symbolizes the essence of future-focused
opportunities presented by increasing
production from the province’s three
oilsands producing regions. Within the
confluence created by high commodity
prices, a generally robust economy and
the increasing global attention coming
Alberta’s way, many businesses are
staking long-term plans. Beyond the
bitumen, however, North West is also in
many ways representative of the
corporate strategizing that divines
myriad peripheral opportunities during
and after bitumen has hit the upgrading
process.
For North West president Robert Pearce,
Sturgeon County was the obvious
location for a merchant upgrader. The
194-square kilometre Industrial
Heartland—straddling four
municipalities and already home to
more than 30 companies—is in effect a
hub from which all the necessary
connecting transportation and
operational spokes radiate,
simultaneously providing good access to
the United States and Canada’s West
Coast. Existing infrastructure, along with
other significant industrial projects
nearby—such as Shell Canada’s Scotford
operation and Agrium’s Redwater
plant—means the appropriate critical
mass has been developing quite nicely.
Already one of Canada’s largest
petroleum, petrochemical and chemical
processing centres, the Industrial
