Subsurface Upgrading Of Heavy Crude Oils And Bitumen

Heavy crude oils and bitumen represent more than 50% of all hydrocarbons available on the planet. These feedstocks have a low amount of distillable material and high level of contaminants that make their production, transportation, and refining difficult and costly by conventional technologies. Subsurface Upgrading of Heavy Crude Oils and Bitumen is of interest to the petroleum industry mainly because of the advantages compared to aboveground counterparts. The author presents an in-depth account and a critical review of the progress of industry and academia in underground or In-Situ upgrading of heavy, extra-heavy oils and bitumen, as reported in the patent and open literature. This work is aimed to be a standalone monograph, so three chapters are dedicated to the composition of petroleum and fundamentals of crude oil production and refining. Key Features: Offers a multidisciplinary scope that will appeal to chemists, geologists, biologists, chemical engineers, and petroleum engineers Presents the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies considered Discusses economic and environmental considerations for all the routes evaluated and offers perspectives from experts in the field working with highlighted technologies

"The emphasis throughout is to link the fundamentals of the molecules through to the economic drivers for the industry, because this combination determines the technology used for processing."-From the Introduction The high demand for quality petroleum products necessitates ongoing innovation in the science and engineering underlying oilsands extraction and upgrading. Beginning with a thorough grounding in the composition, fluid properties, reaction behaviour, and economics of bitumen and heavy oil, Murray Gray then delves into current processing technologies, particularly those used at full commercial scale. The tables of data on composition, yield, and behaviour of oilsands bitumen and heavy oil fractions are extensive. Though the focus is on bitumen from Alberta's oilsands-the largest resource in the world-the science applies to upgrading of heavy oil and petroleum residue feeds worldwide. Upgrading Oilsands Bitumen and Heavy Oil lays out the current best practice for engineers and scientists in the oilsands and refining industries, government personnel, academics, and students.

Heavy Oil Recovery and Upgrading covers properties, factors, methods and all current and upcoming processes, giving engineers, new and experienced, the full spectrum of recovery choices, including SAGD, horizontal well technology, and hybrid approaches. Moving on to the upgrading and refining of the product, the book also includes information on in situ upgrading, refining options, and hydrogen production. Rounding out with environmental effects, management methods on refinery waste, and the possible future configurations within the refinery, this book provides engineers with a single source to make decisions and manage the full range of challenges. Presents the properties, mechanisms, screening criteria and field applications for heavy oil enhanced recovery projects Includes current upgrading options and future methods for refining heavy oil development Fills in the gaps between literature and practical application for everyday industry reference

Heavy oils, extra-heavy oils and tar sands are major players for the future of energy.They represent a massive world resource, at least the size of conventional oils. They are found all over the world but Canada and Venezuela together account, by themselves, for more than half of world deposits. They share the same origin as the lighter conventional oils, but their geological fate drove them into thick, viscous tar-like crude oils. Most of them result from alteration processes mediated by microbial degradation. They are characterized by a low content of lighter cuts and a high content of impurities such as sulfur and nitrogen compounds and metals ; so, their production is difficult and deployment of specific processes is required in order to enhance their transportability and to upgrade them into valuable products meeting market needs, and honouring environmental requirements.Although these resources are increasingly becoming commercially producible, less than 1% of total heavy crude oil deposits worldwide are under active development. The voluntarily wide scope of this volume encompasses geology, production, transportation, upgrading, economics and environmental issues of heavy oils. It does not pretend to be exhaustive, but to provide an authoritative view of this very important energy resource.

"This useful reference offers in-depth coverage of current techniques for converting heavy oils and residues into more valuable distillates.Examines the chemistry of heavy hydrocarbon feeds and their properties important to engineering design, including phase behavior, reaction kinetics, and thermodynamic and transport characteristics!"

Sustainable In-Situ Heavy Oil and Bitumen Recovery: Techniques, Case Studies, and Environmental Considerations delivers a critical reference for today’s energy engineers who want to gain an accurate understanding of anticipated GHG emissions in heavy oil recovery. Structured to break down every method with introductions, case studies, technical limitations and summaries, this reference gives engineers a look at the latest hybrid approaches needed to tackle heavy oil recoveries while calculating carbon footprints. Starting from basic definitions and rounding out with future challenges, this book will help energy engineers collectively evolve heavy oil recovery with sustainability applications in mind. Explains environmental footprint considerations within each recovery method Includes the latest hybrid methods such as Hybrid of Air-CO2N2 and Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) Bridges practical knowledge through case studies, summaries and remaining technical challenges