In situ tar sands extraction

Extracting bitumen from tar sands—and refining it into products like gasoline—is significantly costlier and more difficult than extracting and refining liquid oil. Common extraction methods include surface mining—where the extraction site is excavated—and “in-situ” mining, where steam is used to liquefy bitumen deep underground. The largest deposits of tar sands are found in Alberta, Canada. In Situ Extraction. The majority of Alberta’s oil sands—about 90%—are too far below the surface to be quarried. Accessing the oil in these deposits requires a method of extraction that can work without having to remove the oil sands from the ground. Today several methods are in use that can do this. Based upon a detailed analysis of the physical and chemical properties of both the bitumen and the sand, a hot-water extraction process for Utah tar sands is currently being developed in our laboratories at the University of Utah. This process involves intense agitation of the tar sand in a hot caustic solution and subsequent separation of the bitumen by a modified froth flotation technique.

Tar sands mining and drilling in Canada's Boreal Forest is the largest and most destructive project on earth. The decline of demand for oil and the rise of  Oil sand mining has a large impact on the environment. Forests must be cleared for both open-pit and in situ mining. Pit mines can grow to more than 80 meters  28 Aug 2019 In 2012 in situ production surpassed mining as the dominant extraction method and this trend is expected to continue, with in situ accounting for  of producing oil from oilsands: open-pit mining and in situ (latin, meaning “in within the ground is produced in situ using specialized extraction techniques. Thermal In Situ Oil Sands. Select Primrose/Wolf Lake or Kirby on the map to learn more about specific assets.

The Athabasca oil sands (or tar sands) are large deposits of bitumen or extremely By 2009, the two extraction methods used were in situ extraction, when the 

21 Feb 2020 Procedures of mining oil sands extraction and in situ oil sands extraction. Getting indirect energy input (E. i. ) is challenging since this data is  12 Dec 2017 Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with extraction of bitumen from oil sands can vary from project to project and over time. However  Tar sands mining and drilling in Canada's Boreal Forest is the largest and most destructive project on earth. The decline of demand for oil and the rise of  Oil sand mining has a large impact on the environment. Forests must be cleared for both open-pit and in situ mining. Pit mines can grow to more than 80 meters  28 Aug 2019 In 2012 in situ production surpassed mining as the dominant extraction method and this trend is expected to continue, with in situ accounting for  of producing oil from oilsands: open-pit mining and in situ (latin, meaning “in within the ground is produced in situ using specialized extraction techniques. Thermal In Situ Oil Sands. Select Primrose/Wolf Lake or Kirby on the map to learn more about specific assets.

In situ extraction is more energy and carbon intensive than conventional oil production or mining for tar sands41. The. Alberta Government has also proposed a 

Extracting bitumen from tar sands—and refining it into products like gasoline—is significantly costlier and more difficult than extracting and refining liquid oil. Common extraction methods include surface mining—where the extraction site is excavated—and “in-situ” mining, where steam is used to liquefy bitumen deep underground. The largest deposits of tar sands are found in Alberta, Canada. In Situ Extraction. The majority of Alberta’s oil sands—about 90%—are too far below the surface to be quarried. Accessing the oil in these deposits requires a method of extraction that can work without having to remove the oil sands from the ground. Today several methods are in use that can do this.

surface mining, and 90% must be recovered by in situ methods. Early work at LETC included physical and chemical characterizations of Utah tar sand. Tar sand 

The bitumen-laden sands are then transported to an extraction plant, where hot water is used to separate out the oil. In recent years, however, in situ mining of tar sands — which involves injecting steam into tar sands deposits too deep to be surface-mined — has escalated. Canadians may soon know more about the chemicals being used to extract bitumen from Alberta’s tar sands, thanks to West Coast Environmental Law and our colleagues at Environmental Defence and the Association Québécoise de Lutte Contre la Pollution Atmosphérique (AQLPA).

2 Aug 2014 Hence, bitumen extraction rate has increased in the last decade at the of the oil sands resources need to be extracted with in situ methods [1], 

4 Jan 2019 Oil sands deposits that are greater than 75 meters below the ground surface are usually extracted without removing the overlying rock and dirt. 30 Jun 2016 In-situ extraction has a much smaller footprint than oil sands mining, uses less water, and does not produce a tailings stream. Only 20% of 

extracting bitumen from the oil sands are summarized. from surface mining operations and considerable land impact from in-situ mining operations. The pace  The Athabasca oil sands (or tar sands) are large deposits of bitumen or extremely By 2009, the two extraction methods used were in situ extraction, when the  Production of Tar Sands 13 Production Methods 13 Surface Mining 15 In Situ Extraction and Upgrading of Tar Sand Bitumen 42 Processing Operations 42  Recovering Oil Sands. Two different methods are used to produce oil from the oil sands – surface mining and in-situ – or producing in place. More »