NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Pipeline Transport Processes

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Pipelines have been used as material handling devices for more than a century because this mode of transport represents an energy-efficient way of moving material from a source to a destination. In many industrial applications, however, a pipeline should also be considered to be a "reactor" wherein it is possible to transform the material being transported. In other words, the product discharged from the pipeline can look very different from the raw material fed to the pipeline. By controlling the in-pipe conditions, one can force desired physical transformations to occur. An excellent example of this occurs in the mining of oil sand and extraction of bitumen, where the oil sand is transported from the mine to the extraction facilities in the form of a highly concentrated suspension, or slurry. The bitumen contained in this slurry must be transformed so that it can be separated effectively from the other components in the mixture. If the oil sands pipeline is operated under specific conditions and process aids are injected at the appropriate locations in the pipeline, the transformation process is much more effective. One of the goals of this research program is to look at how this transformation process can be controlled to give the desired results while optimizing energy input, pipeline length (residence time) and chemical injection. A similar philosophy is applied to research conducted in the transport and placement of dewatered tailings. This research is important to Canada's oil sands industry but can be expected to spur Alberta-made innovations in the international mining and mineral processing industries. The overarching objective of this research is to make resource extraction (including oil sands) more energy-efficient while reducing GHG emissions and fresh water consumption.