The oil sands are one of the oil sources. They consist of sand and clay saturated with medium and heavy hydrocarbons. Depending on the field the mass fraction of hydrocarbons in the oil sands may range from a few percent to several dozens percent. In general, the mass fraction of oil in the oil sands does not exceed 20%. Oil reserves in the oil sands reserves commensurate with clean oil.
World oil reserves in the oil sands
Currently, oil sands deposits have been found in about 70 countries of world. There are large, medium and small deposits of oil sands. Oil sands lay in the ground at a depth of a few meters to few kilometers. Depending on the deposit type oil sands are extracted by mining or career method. The oil is separated from water, sand and clay by means of solvents at special plants. Hot water or hydrocarbon fractions are used as solvents. Recently, the methods of separation of oil from mineral rocks in the earth formations began to be used. These are based on the oil sands formations layer heating and use of solvents. All existing methods of oil extracting from oil sands are energy-consuming and significantly affect the ecology of the environment. As a result of extraction of oil from oil sands lots of carbon monoxide, formed by heating of the large amount of solvent or layers heating, are emitted to the atmosphere.
CO2 emissions as a result of gasoline production on the basis of various types of oil
Moreover, it is followed by pouring out of lot of dirty water in the lagoons.
Dirty water emissions accompanying extraction of oil from oil sands
Places of oil extraction from oil sands
Apart from this, there is a risk of contamination of soil and groundwater. Moreover, one gets synthetic oil containing a large amount of heavy hydrocarbons. This oil is called heavy oil. Prior to its transportation and processing it is specially refined. Heavy oil contains non-significant amount little amount of light hydrocarbons and small amount of medium hydrocarbons. Processing of this oil requires some changes in the refineries, since modern refineries are designed to process light and medium oil. Currently, despite significant shortcomings, the oil production from oil sands is active performed. Over time, the world stocks of light and medium crude oil will diminish that will result in intensive development of oil production from the oil sands. Therefore, it is important to develop new methods of oil production from oil sands. Firm “PROKSINFO” offers a new method of oil production from oil sands. This method does not involve a solvent for separation of oil from sand and clay. It is less energy-consuming, since it provides for heating of a small portion of oil sands and, moreover, for further heating there shall be used gaseous hydrocarbons produced previously as a result of initial heating. This shall reduce the emissions of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. Therefore, this method is environmentally friendly, since it is not accompanied by discharges into the environment of lot of contaminated water and carbon oxides. This method contains technical conditions allowing for partial separation of the received hydrocarbon fractions and their quality improvement. This is due to the introduction of the oxygenate compounds and increase of the number of light and medium hydrocarbons formed as a result of the oxidative pyrolysis. Particularly, the introduction of oxygenate compounds to light and medium hydrocarbon fractions makes it possible to increase the octane number of gasoline which will be derived from these fractions. Introduction of oxygenate compounds in the heavy hydrocarbon fraction enables production fine oils and additives from them. This method is based on that the oil sands are extracted by open-pit or mining method and sent to the plant for separation of oil from sand and clay. The plant consists of 5-10 pyrolysis furnaces and three production lines of hydrocarbon fractions extraction. The first production line consists of equipment allowing extract water and light hydrocarbon fractions from the oil sands. The second line enables partially extraction of light and medium hydrocarbon fractions. The third line allows extracting of heavier hydrocarbon fractions. By means of the equipment and process parameters these method possesses the conditions allowing for continuous stepwise low-temperature oxidation pyrolysis. After the oil products extraction the dirty sand can be used for road construction or building materials production or stored in areas of oil sands extraction. Considering the existing methods of producing oil from oil sands, this method has comparatively low productivity. The amount of produced oil can be increased by construction of several plants. Considering the economic and environmental value of this method, we can argue that it can be used for commercial production of oil from oil sands. This method can be successfully used in areas where there is a shortage of water, high environmental requirements or oil sands small deposits. Industrial use of this method requires considerable material and financial costs. Currently, the Firm «PROKSINFO» is not able to independently implement this method for commercial production of oil from oil sands. In this regard, the company Firm «PROKSINFO» is looking for business partners for this method joint industrial implementation. If you are interested in this method and will to cooperate with us or facilitate us in this method development, please do not hesitate to contact us by email: proksinfos@gmail.com.