Suncor Energy Services Inc. (Suncor), with funding from the Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) and support from Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions, teamed with Jacobs Consultancy Canada Inc. (Jacobs Consultancy) to complete an Oil Sands Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Roadmap Study.
The primary objective of the Study was to identify, assess, and quantify energy efficiency and GHG reduction opportunities for commercial oil sands operations and determine their potential impact on the GHG intensity of fuels refined from oil sands derived bitumen. The facilities evaluated in this Study include In Situ bitumen production, mining and extraction, and upgrading. Energy efficiency and GHG reduction opportunities included operational improvements, capital investment projects, and technology advancement opportunities. The improvement opportunities were identified based on detailed review of each processing step by Suncor technical specialists and key operations staff together with industry specialists from Jacobs Consultancy.
Improvement ideas were screened and top ideas were evaluated using a combination of plant operating data and simulation models. To determine the impact of improvement projects on total GHG emissions, a life cycle analysis (LCA) was conducted to demonstrate how the identified energy improvements affect the GHG emissions on a well-to-wheels basis for fuels derived from oil sands-based crude oils.
This Study provides a high-level evaluation of GHG reduction opportunities for crude oil production from oil sands, including a preliminary evaluation of the economics and a qualitative assessment of the risks of their implementation. While some of the opportunities evaluated had sufficient detail to advance them toward implementation, most of the opportunities identified in this Study will require more detailed techno-economic evaluation before implementation. Therefore, while efforts were made to quantify benefits, the information in this report provides a foundation and direction for future work to improve the energy efficiency of oil sands operations and reduce their GHG emissions.
In this Study, Suncor and Jacobs Consultancy (the Study Team) used the Suncor Firebag production site to represent a typical in situ facility. The Suncor Millennium mine and base plant extraction facility represented typical mining and extraction facilities. Suncor’s Upgrader No. 2 represented typical upgrading facilities.