To help the industry, researchers are looking for a long-term fix that would accomplish a number of issues – achieving better prices, creating jobs and lowering the impact of oil sands on the environment.
All these issues are in line with Alberta Innovates’ effort to lead the province into a low-carbon economy and increase the value of Alberta’s oil sands resources. In November, Alberta Innovates will award $2 million in funding to several research projects that focus on turning bitumen into products other than gas, diesel, and other fuels.
‘Bitumen Beyond Combustion (BBC)’ Project
Originally, the BBC project included carbon fibers and carbon fiber-concrete, -wood, and -plastic composites; solid asphalts and asphaltenes; vanadium and quinone electrolytes for electricity storage systems; and biodegradable/compostable polymers/plastics.
That list has been narrowed down to four areas with the biggest product impact. They include asphalt, vanadium batteries, plastics, and carbon fiber. Some of the research is already taking place in the province.
As an example, An engineer with Shell Canada has come up with a way to use a by-product from the oilsands of Alberta to create large utility-scale electricity storage for renewable energy projects.
Vanadium is a lesser-known medium-hard, steel-blue metal that rarely exists in nature as a free element, but it can be found in about 65 minerals, including magnetite, vanadinite, carnotite, and patronite. It also can be found in phosphate rock and in the oil sands of Alberta.
JT Steenkamp, a Shell Canada engineer has been testing out a new type of battery at Shell Canada’s research center in Calgary, using vanadium, usually considered a by-product of oil sands production.
The Shell Canada project, along with several others still have a way to go before a commercial product is available, but with the price of oil sands bitumen so low, a sense of urgency has been injected into the research.
What can we do with bitumen?
Basically, bitumen is used to create combustible products. Almost 90 percent of all bitumen from the Alberta oilsands goes to create transportation fuels like gasoline, says Axel Meisen, a chemical engineer and advisor to Alberta Innovates.
That small percentage leftover is used to make non-combustion products, like asphalt, lubricants, fertilizers, and petrochemicals, “What we have to do is figure out how to make that larger,” says Richard Dixon, who teaches energy, ethics and economics at the University of Alberta and Athabasca University.
Suncor’s Edmonton East refinery has branched out into non-combustible products, like specialized oils and hydrocarbon products, like waxes, lubricants, plastics, and even lipstick. Dixon says the industry still isn’t moving forward fast enough, though. “We have to drive more and more that way,” he says. “We have to be much more innovative.”
Bryan Helfenbaum, with Alberta Innovates, believes carbon-fiber has great potential. Carbon-fiber is a light-weight material that is stronger than steel. Not only is it used in the aerospace industry, but it’s also used in high-performance sports equipment.
And while there are criticisms for any oilsands development, because of the high carbon content of the oil produced, Helfenbaum says, “We need to re-think a little bit how we think about carbon. Carbon is a bit of a bad word in its gaseous form, but in solid form, carbon is building materials that we use every day.”
