Froth treatment technology going commercial for oil sands

Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell is rolling out technology aimed at eliminating the negative environmental impact of oil-sands production. The process known as high-temperature froth treatment reportedly cuts carbon emissions during crude extraction by 10 to 15%, putting it closer in line with carbon emissions from conventional oil wells.

The oil sands of Canada hold the world's largest oil deposits outside of Saudi Arabia, but this resource is locked in a tar-like bitumen that must be processed in energy-intensive ways that release large amounts of CO₂. The froth treatment process, known as Shell Enhance, places the oil sand into 20 m tanks where it is heated to 80°C under pressure, creating a petroleum-rich froth in a single step that separates the oil from the sand.

The process treats the oil sand at roughly twice the temperature of conventional separation processes, allowing the oil to be extracted more quickly. Higher temperatures also mean that smaller equipment, less water, and less energy per barrel are used in the Enhance process. The greater efficiency of the process more than compensates for the higher heat used, ultimately saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says Shell.

Shell plans to commercialize two 20 m Enhance tanks next year as part of its USD 13.7 billion expansion of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project in Alberta, of which it owns 60% and operates on behalf of minority owners Chevron and Marathon.

Athabasca currently produces an average of 155,000 B/D of oil, but the expansion is expected to boost that by 100,000 B/D, the company states.

About 60% of crude from the tar sands is already exported to the US, but Shell and other oil-sands producers such as ExxonMobil and Suncor Energy are counting on the US market to absorb a near doubling of output from oil sands in the next six years, according to Greg Stringham, a vice president at the Canadian Association of Oil Producers, in a recent interview with Bloomberg News.

"I think we can match what the American refiners are already bringing in from other sources," Stringham said.

To learn more about Shell's initiatives in oil-sands production, visit the company's oil-sands website.