What is the definition of tar sands?
Tar sands (also known as oil sands) are a mixture of mostly sand, clay, water, and a thick, molasses-like substance called bitumen. Bitumen is made of hydrocarbons—the same molecules in liquid oil—and is used to produce gasoline and other petroleum products.
What do you mean by thermal upgrading of bitumen?
Bitumen upgrading is the chemical treatment of bitumen that is used in an attempt to increase its value by creating a substitute for high quality crude oil, known as a synthetic crude oil.
What is an oil upgrader?
Upgraders. Upgraders are facilities that improve (or ‘upgrade’) the quality of crude oil products such as bitumen, which is very viscous and dense, to synthetic crude oil. This is done by breaking down large oil molecules into smaller ones by injecting fluids or adding heat.
What is Dilbit used for?
Dilbit (diluted bitumen) is a bitumen diluted with one or more lighter petroleum products, typically natural-gas condensates such as naphtha. Diluting bitumen makes it much easier to transport, for example in pipelines.
What is the difference between tar sands and crude oil?
Oil Sands Crude The term oil sands refers to a particular type of nonconventional oil deposit that is found throughout the world. Oil sands, sometimes referred to as tar sands, is a mixture of sand, clay, other minerals, water, and bitumen. The bitumen is a form of crude oil that can be separated out from the mixture.
Where are oil sands?
Oil sands deposits are found in dozens of countries throughout the world. The main deposits are found within Cretaceous rocks in Venezuela and Canada.
What is the melting point of bitumen?
Bitumen has a melting point of around 240 degrees Fahrenheit which is high enough to be safely used for roadway designs and low enough to be heated up without using a large amount of energy.
What is oil sands upgrader?
An upgrader is a facility that upgrades bitumen (extra heavy oil) into synthetic crude oil. Upgrader plants are typically located close to oil sands production, for example, the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada or the Orinoco tar sands in Venezuela.
What does a upgrader do?
An upgrader is a plant used to lower the density of extra-heavy crude oil (bitumen) before sending it to market. Upgraders employ standard refining bottoms conversion processes such as cokers and resid hydrocrackers to crack extra-heavy crude into a mix of lighter components.
What is Synbit and Dilbit?
Synbit is a mixture of synthetic crude and bitumen, typically a 50/50 blend. Since Synbit has a lower fraction of bitumen than Dilbit, it is slightly better in quality. Synbit volumes have diminished in recent years in favour of Dilbit production.
Is oil sands crude oil?
Oil sands, or tar sands, are sand and rock material that contain crude bitumen—a dense, viscous form of crude oil. Bitumen is too thick to flow on its own, so extraction methods are necessary.
How are oil sands formed?
Alberta’s oil sands were formed millions of years ago, as tiny marine creatures died and drifted to the sea floor and were covered by layers of sediment that exerted enough pressure and temperatures to transform the organic matter into oil. Over millions of years, that oil became trapped in thick layers of sand.
What is oil sands used for?
Oil sand is a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay or other minerals, water and bitumen, which is a heavy and extremely viscous oil. It must be processed before it can be used by refineries to produce fuels such as gasoline and diesel.
What is VG of bitumen?
Due to its higher viscosity, stiffer Bitumen mixes can be produced to improve resistance to shoving and other problems associated with higher temperature and heavy traffic loads. TABLE: VISCOSITY GRADE (VG) BITUMEN SPECIFICATION AS PER IS 73:2006. Characteristics. VG-10 VG-20 VG-30 VG-40.
What is GMB and GMM?
• Gmb= bulk specific gravity of the mixture. • Gmm= theoretical maximum specific gravity of the mixture.
What is VG in bitumen?
How many upgraders are there in Alberta?
Figure 1: Western Canada’s upgraders and bitumen refineries
| Active Upgraders Capacity | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alberta | 203.0 | 1 277.0 |
| Saskatchewan | 20.7 | 130.5 |
| Western Canada | 223.8 | 1 407.5 |