Suncor process

Sunamed Sun bleaching Sunblock Suncefal Suncor process Sunette Sunflower... 

Froth from the hot-water process may be mixed with a hydrocarbon diluent, eg, coker naphtha, and centrifuged. The Suncor process employs a two-stage centrifuging operation, and each stage consists of multiple centrifuges of conventional design installed in parallel. The bitumen product contains 1—2 wt % mineral (dry bitumen basis) and 5—15 wt % water (wet diluted basis). Syncmde also utilizes a centrifuge system with naphtha diluent. 

Suncor processed 100,000 cubic yards (over 75,000 m3) of oil sands fine tailings through single freeze-thaw cycles in the winters of 1992 and 1993 and 1993 and 1994. Approximately 75,000 cubic yards... 

Materials. Samples of dewatered crude oils were obtained from the Athabasca oil sands of the McMurray formation by extraction using the commercial hot water process (Suncor Inc.) the Bl uesky-Bu11 head formation at Peace River, Alberta by solvent extraction of produced fluids the Clearwater formation at Cold Lake, Alberta by solvent extraction of core material and the Karamay formation in Xing-Jiang, China. A summary of the physical and chemical properties of the crude oils, including chemical composition, and density-temperature and viscosity-temperature relationships, is given in Table I. 

Hot-Water A process for separating bitumen from tar sands. Developed by SUNCOR for treating the sands from Athabasca, Alberta, based on an invention made by K. A. Clarke in 1932. Two large plants were operating in Canada in 1984. 

Canadian oil sand processing plants have been developed by Syncrude and Suncor for extraction and upgrading of tar sand bitumen into fuel. Aboveground surface mining and in-situ methods have been developed to recover raw material. Bitumen recovery from surface mined oil sand requires conditioning in order to free the bitumen from the sand matrix. 

Erskine, H.L. Suncor Hot Water Process in Handbook of Synfuels Technology, Meyers, R.A., (Ed.), McGraw-Hill New York, 1984 pp 5-1 to 5-79. 

There are two processes that have been applied to the production of liquids from Athabasca bitumen. In this respect, these processes are proven but are not necessarily the best or ultimate processes. Delayed coking is practised at the Suncor (formerly Great Canadian Oil Sands) plant, whereas Syncrude employs a fluid coking process which produces less coke than the delayed coking in exchange for more liquids and gases (Table 5). 

We outline the basic steps in the commercial process (Figure 7) and their place in an integrated oil sands-synthetic crude oil production process. Although based on Syncrude Canada s operation, much of the process is similar to that of Suncor (e.g., reference 59). Additional details are available in the technical and patent literature (6, 13, 39, 59-65). 

The combined production of synthetic crude oil (SCO) by Syncrude and Suncor is more than 250,000 barrels (about 40,000 m3) per day, which represents over 15% of Canada s crude oil requirements. Syncrude Canada Ltd. processes bitumen and produces SCO at about three... 

Figure 5. Cumulative mass of oil sand feed processed and fine tails produced by Syncrude and Suncor.

In Table II, the compositions of surface-zone recycle water and fine tails pore water from Syncrude and Suncor are compared (2). Over time, the recycle process water is becoming more brackish (especially at Syncrude). Concentration of the major ions in the tailings ponds as a function of depth is shown in Figure 11. The concentrations of major ions in tailings water have increased with time for example, at Syncrude, from 1979 to 1993, there was a 200-300% increase in conserved ions such as Na+ and Cl. At Suncor, absolute changes were smaller (2, 3, 35, 40). However, no evidence exists of trace metal buildup over time (2). 

One reason for writing this chapter is to report the success of real-time, online refmeiy-wide optimization (RWO) at Suncor-Samia using rigorous process models. Another reason is to show how the same rigorous models can be used offline to quantify key non-linear relationships during the evaluation of project ideas, especially those related to the production of clean fuels. 

Synthetic crude oil from Suncor s oils sands processing plant at Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada... 

The Union Carbide CANSOLV pirocess is a relatively new FGD process that produces SO2. It utilizes, a proprietary, thermally regenerable organic amine-based solution, UCAR-SOL Absorbent LH-201, which is non-volatile, stable oxidatively and thermally, and designed to meet applicable health and safety standards. A pilot plant at Suncor Inc. s oil sands plant at Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, treated 7,000 acfm of flue gas from boilers burning 7% sulfur petroleum coke (Hakka and Barnett, 1991). 

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