Demetallization of bitumen using supercritical carbon dioxide and water

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Extracted bitumen from oil sands ore is processed and upgraded to produce synthetic crude oil. Duringprocessing of bitumen, the presence of higher concentration of metals particularly V and Ni in bitumencorrodes equipment, clogs catalyst pores, deactivates catalyst and causes metal-laden emissions to theenvironment. Therefore, demetallization of bitumen is an important step in improving bitumen processing forsustainable synthetic crude oil production with less environmental impact.Currently, natural gas is used to produce steam for steam-assisted gravity drainage process to recover deeplyburied bitumen. In the newly proposed process, natural gas will be used in fuel cell to produce electricity. Theprocess will simultaneously yield pure CO2 and water streams that can easily be brought to a supercritical stateby using heat exchanger. In our laboratory studies, these streams have shown excellent results in the bitumenupgrading process. This proposed study aims to investigate demetallization of bitumen during its upgradingusing supercritical CO2 and water. The research findings will help devise better bitumen upgrading process forquality product, eliminate/reduce adverse environmental and operational effects, and contribute significantly toMillar Western's efforts to commercialize the application of supercritical CO2 and water for sustainablerecovery and utilization of energy resources.