Oil sands in situ gasification recovery process design

据估计，加拿大阿尔伯塔省的重油和沥青储量约为1.7万亿桶。这种油的原位粘度通常在数十万到数百万厘泊之间，它的开采是能源密集型的，温室气体排放和水消耗都很大。阿尔伯塔省生产的大部分重油和沥青在开采后被地面升级为合成原油，这些原油又可以在标准炼油厂转化为燃料、润滑剂和石化产品。升级沥青需要氢气。在目前的实践中，大部分氢气是由甲烷的蒸汽重整和水气转换反应产生的。这意味着重油和沥青的升级，就像目前所做的那样，需要大量的天然气来产生氢气。通过沥青储层气化就地制氢的潜力，为油砂回收和升级提供了一种有吸引力的能源回收替代方案，同时具有经济和环境效益。例如，由沥青气化产生的氢也可用于就地升级，以及氨和其他化学品的原料。水气转换反应还会产生二氧化碳，这些二氧化碳可能会被封存在地层水中，并在原位气化过程中作为固体矿物存在，从而通过地面升级器减少向大气的排放。就地气化技术提供了一种潜在的清洁方法，从沥青（一种相对“脏”的燃料）中生产燃料和原料（氢、甲烷），此外还提供了一种更节能的提取石油的方法（由于温度升高，可能会升级石油产品）。在碳中和社会的背景下，沥青转化为氢是非常可取的，因为作为一种能量载体，它比任何其他可燃燃料每单位质量含有更多的能量。该研究计划的主要目标是开发操作策略和井位，以优化原位油砂气化工艺的能源和原料化学品（H2, CH4）的回收，热效率和排放强度，作为当前蒸汽基沥青回收和升级工艺的替代方案。

The volume of heavy oil and bitumen in Alberta, Canada is estimated to be about 1.7 trillion barrels. This oil has in situ viscosities typically in the hundreds of thousands to millions of centipoise and its extraction is energy intensive with large greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. After extraction, most of the produced heavy oil and bitumen in Alberta is surface upgraded to synthetic crude oil which in turn can be converted to fuel, lubricant, and petrochemical products in standard refineries. To upgrade bitumen requires hydrogen. In current practice, much of this hydrogen is generated from steam reforming of methane together with the water-gas shift reaction. This means that heavy oil and bitumen upgrading, as is currently done, requires huge amounts of natural gas to generate hydrogen. The potential for in situ generation of hydrogen by gasification of bitumen reservoirs offers an attractive energy recovery alternative to oil sands recovery + upgrading which can also have both economic and environmental benefits. For example, hydrogen generated from bitumen gasification can also be used for in situ upgrading as well as feedstock for ammonia and other chemicals. The water-gas shift reaction also generates carbon dioxide which could be potentially sequestered in formation water and as solid mineral in an in situ gasification process so that emissions to the atmosphere are reduced over surface upgraders. In situ gasification technology provides a potentially clean method to produce fuel and feedstock material (hydrogen, methane) from bitumen, a relatively "dirty" fuel in addition to a more energy efficient way to extract oil (potentially upgraded oil product resulting from elevated temperatures). In the context of a carbon-neutral society, bitumen conversion to hydrogen is highly desirable since as an energy vector, it contains more energy per unit mass than any other combustible fuel. The key goal of this research program is the development of operating strategies and well placement to optimize the recovery of energy and feedstock chemicals (H2, CH4), thermal efficiency, and emissions intensity of an in situ oil sands gasification process as an alternative to current steam-based bitumen recovery and upgrading processes.