Lower GHG intensive transport of bitumen or heavy oil in solid phase

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Bitumen produced in Alberta is transported to Canadian and North American downstream processors via pipelines or rail. Both modes of transportation present the risk of significant environmental, financial and societal costs if the bitumen spills occur. The spilled bitumen can release toxic chemicals into potable water resources (rivers, lakes), groundwater and significantly affect wildlife and flora and fauna around the spillage.The oil sands industry in Alberta is encountering extreme resistance from various stakeholders because of this potential risk and its social license to operate is being threatened. The Research Team has developed a technology to solidify the bitumen so that it is amenable to ground and sea transportation and minimizes or eliminates potential environmental mishaps.While many different methods for solidifying bitumen are known, the Research Team has proposed to investigate ultrasonics for polymerizing bitumen to a solid or more viscous semi-solid form. Therefore, the objective of this technology development/commercialization plan is to demonstrate a scaled-down version of a device that will generate solid or semi-solid bitumen 'bricks (or pellets)' and generate technical information that would form the design basis for a larger scale device to produce solid or semi-solid bitumen 'bricks/pellets' that could easily fit in a rail car.A portion of GHG emissions in the oil sands industry originate from the transportation of bitumen or heavy oil to markets. This often involves dilution with diluent (condensates from gas fields) to create dilbit. The solid form bitumen pellet can be safely transported in rail cars with no requirement of diluent or heating.