Evaluation of energy efficiency options in steam assisted gravity drainage oil sands surface facilities via process integration

• Pinch analysis performed for unconventional oil recovery process to identify inefficiencies.
• Both the removal of pinch violations and process modifications lead to savings.
• Effect of energy savings on water consumption for the process is considered.
• Greenhouse gas emissions reduction and economic benefit are estimated for the studied cases.

While new technologies are being developed for extracting unconventional oil, in the near term economic benefits and footprint reduction can be achieved by enhancing the energy efficiency of existing facilities. The objective of this work is to evaluate energy efficiency opportunities for in situ extraction of Canada's oil sands resource using pinch analysis. Modifications to an original plant design are analyzed in order to estimate utility savings beyond those obtained for the initial process configuration. The modifications explored in this paper are estimated to deliver energy savings of up to 6% beyond ‘business as usual’. This corresponds to GHG emissions reduction of approximately 5%. However, in some cases, this increase in energy savings comes at the cost of increasing demand for make-up water and volume of disposal water. Surplus generation of steam beyond heating requirements in the water treatment system leads to energy inefficiencies. Additional cost and energy savings are obtained by reducing or eliminating the use of glycol in the cooling circuit.

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