Engineering a novel biocatalyst for the production of bio-diluents

2015年，所有设施的温室气体排放总量为2050万吨。更广泛地说，加拿大石油和油砂的二氧化碳排放量占加拿大温室气体排放量的9.3%。森科尔积极减少其油砂产品的温室气体足迹，以实现其可持续发展目标。他们的长期愿景是到2030年将其石油和石油产品生产的总排放强度降低30%。因此，该项目的目标是开发将低价值的富含二氧化碳的废物流回收为高价值产品的技术。特别是，人们希望将二氧化碳排放转化为可直接使用的可再生燃料和燃料添加剂（如稀释剂），这些燃料和添加剂可以与传统原油产品混合，并在需要时在现有的炼油基础设施中进行加工，而不需要对设备进行任何修改或对组件产生有害影响。为此，本项目将利用生物过程的催化作用，将富含温室气体的废液转化为沥青稀释剂。常规稀释剂产品目前由森科从美国进口。因此，在当地供应沥青稀释剂除了可以减少其运营的温室气体足迹外，还可以节省现有供应链的成本。这项研究拨款的目的是与森科合作开发一种新的生物基途径来制造生物稀释剂。创造一种高效的生物工艺，生产高质量的生物稀释剂，包括戊烷，能够取代石化衍生稀释剂，将帮助森科尔等生产商减少对从美国进口的生物稀释剂的依赖。举例来说，这一过程将直接捕获3.1公斤的二氧化碳每公斤戊烷生产，使森科尔减少碳排放，使油砂开采更具可持续性。

In 2015, GHG emissions totaled 20.5 million tonnes across all their facilities. More broadly, CO2 emissions from Canadian oil and sands account for 9.3 per cent of Canada's GHG emissions. Suncor is motivated to reduce the GHG footprint of their oil sands products in order to achieve their sustainability goals. Their long-term vision is to reduce the total emission intensity of the production of their oil and petroleum products by 30% by 2030. Therefore, the goal of this project is to develop technologies that recycle low value CO2 rich waste streams into higher value products. In particular, it is desired CO2 emissions be converted into drop-in renewable fuels and fuel additives (e.g. diluents) that can be blended with traditional crude oil products and processed, if required, in existing refining infrastructure without any equipment modifications or deleterious effect to the components. To that end, this project will utilize the catalytic power of biological process to convert waste streams rich in GHGs to bitumen diluents. Conventional diluent products are currently imported by Suncor from the United States. Hence, a local supply of bitumen diluent could offer a cost savings over the existing supply chain in addition to reduction in the GHG footprint of its operations. The purpose of this research grant in is to develop a novel bio-based route to manufacture bio-diluents in collaboration with Suncor. Creation of an efficient bioprocess that produces high quality bio-diluents, including pentane, capable of replacing petrochemical derived diluents will help producers like Suncor reduce their dependence on bio-diluent imported form the United States. For example, For example, this process would directly capture 3.1 kg of CO2 per kg of pentane produced, allowing Suncor to reduce their carbon emissions and make oil sands extraction more sustainable.