Assessment of international tar sands recovery and upgrading processes

Technical Report · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:6582590

This assessment highlights and evaluates foreign technologies that might aid in the future development of heavy oil deposits in the United States. This information on foreign technology developments would aid in formulating and directing policy decisions on future research programs within the United States. Emphasis of the study was on post-1978 developing technologies. Scope included sizing the resource base and reviewing and evaluating past, present, and planned research and field developments on processes for mining, producing, extracting, and upgrading very heavy oils recovered from tar sands. This report is presented in three major sections with supporting appendices and an executive summary. The characteristics and location of the world's principal tar sands resources are presented in Chapter III. Production methods, both above ground and in-situ, factors inherent in choosing between methods and the commercial and pilot application of those methods are discussed in Chapter IV. Chapter V then presents the factors which affect the process selection for upgrading bitumen and very heavy oils so they can be pipelined and/or refined to a desired mix of consumer products. Chapter V also contains a review of conventional upgrading methods and recent developments, both foreign and domestic. A more detailed discussion of selected US upgrading processes is presented in Appendix I.

• Research Organization: Booz, Allen and Hamilton, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6582590
• Report Number(s): UCRL-15323
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040400* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Oil Production
Recovery
& Refining
040800 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Economics
Industrial
& Business Aspects
BITUMENS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBONIZATION
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COKING
DEASPHALTING
DECOMPOSITION
ENERGY SOURCES
EXPLOITATION
EXTRACTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
INDUSTRY
LLOYDMINSTER DEPOSIT
MATERIALS
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SAND INDUSTRY
OIL SANDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
REFINING
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
TAR
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT