Analyzing the energy intensity and greenhouse gas emission of Canadian oil sands crude upgrading through process modeling and simulation

doi:10.1007/s11705-014-1424-z

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2014, Vol. 8

Issue (2) : 212-218 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-014-1424-z

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Analyzing the energy intensity and greenhouse gas emission of Canadian oil sands crude upgrading through process modeling and simulation

Anton ALVAREZ-MAJMUTOV,Jinwen CHEN(

)

Natural Resources Canada, CanmetENERGY, One Oil Patch Drive, Devon, AB, T9G 1A8, Canada

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Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation of the energy intensity and related greenhouse gas/CO₂ emissions of integrated oil sands crude upgrading processes. Two major oil sands crude upgrading schemes currently used in Canadian oil sands operations were investigated: coking-based and hydroconversion-based. The analysis, which was based on a robust process model of the entire process, was constructed in Aspen HYSYS and calibrated with representative data. Simulations were conducted for the two upgrading schemes in order to generate a detailed inventory of the required energy and utility inputs: process fuel, steam, hydrogen and power. It was concluded that while hydroconversion-based scheme yields considerably higher amount of synthetic crude oil (SCO) than the coker-based scheme (94 wt-% vs. 76 wt-%), it consumes more energy and is therefore more CO₂-intensive (413.2 kg CO₂/m³_SCO vs. 216.4 kg CO₂/m³_SCO). This substantial difference results from the large amount of hydrogen consumed in the ebullated-bed hydroconverter in the hydroconversion-based scheme, as hydrogen production through conventional methane steam reforming is highly energy-intensive and therefore the major source of CO₂ emission. Further simulations indicated that optimization of hydroconverter operating variables had only a minor effect on the overall CO₂ emission due to the complex trade-off effect between energy inputs.

Keywords Oil sands crude upgrading hydroconversion process modeling greenhouse gas emissions

Corresponding Author(s): Jinwen CHEN

Issue Date: 22 May 2014

Cite this article:

Anton ALVAREZ-MAJMUTOV,Jinwen CHEN. Analyzing the energy intensity and greenhouse gas emission of Canadian oil sands crude upgrading through process modeling and simulation[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2014, 8(2): 212-218.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-014-1424-z
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2014/V8/I2/212

Fig.1 Generic diagram of oil sands crude upgrading process

Tab.1 Overall performance of the two schemes^a)

Fig.2 CO₂ emission breakdown by energy inputs

Fig.3 CO₂ intensity by unit

Fig.4 EBR hydroconversion unit

Fig.5 Effect of reactor temperature and LHSV on (a) once-through VR conversion, and (b) VR-based hydrogen consumption

Fig.6 Effect of recycling the unconverted residue on LHSV

Fig.7 Effect of recycling the unconverted residue on hydroconversion unit heating inputs

Fig.8 Effect of reactor temperature and LHSV on overall CO₂ intensity

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