In-situ preparation of high concentration of ultradispersed nanocatalysts for in-situ heavy oil hydrocracking

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

As the sources of conventional light crude are depleting and its price increasing, refineries are more forced to use heavy oils, oil sands and bitumens as feasible substitutes. In Canada, the oil sands deposits of northern Alberta, occur in layers with thickness up to 100 m, spread over more than 40,000 km2. The deposits contain about 1.3 trillion barrels of crude oil equivalent. Currently, only small fraction of the total bitumen reserves of Northern Alberta are recoverable using the current in-situ and surface mining techniques. The larger percentage, about 93%, of bitumen resources are too deep to mine. The cost of heavy oil extraction and the environmental impact of surface mining mandate the search and development of new and innovative in-situ technologies for recovery and upgrading, which would provide access to the deeper deposits of bitumen.