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December 2005

Photo Essay: Dirty Oil

Continued from page 1

By Katherine Bourzac
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5. The sand-and-water slurry is dumped into tanks with hot water, where it separates into three layers: sand, bitumen froth (impure bitumen), and a middle layer that is further treated to extract bitumen. Bitumen froth is also treated to remove impurities. [Click here to view image.]

6. Oil companies create ponds in which to dump millions of cubic meters of the sandy, toxic by-product of oil-sand processing. These "tailings ponds" are characterized by salt and acids. Here, a worker installs a scarecrow to keep birds away. [Click here to view image.]

7. Bitumen is a viscous mixture of long hydrocarbon chains--strings of as many as thousands of carbon atoms bonded to hydrogen atoms. These molecules must be "upgraded" to shorter molecules before they can be refined into petroleum products.

Purified bitumen is heated to break its long hydrocarbon chains into lighter molecules, such as naphtha, that can be refined. This process is called coking and takes place in large towers. The high-carbon by-product of the process, called coke, in turn fuels the coking furnaces. Distillation and a hydrogenation process are the final steps. [Click here to view image.]

8. The extensive processing of oil sand generates "sweet" crude oil, so called because of its low levels of sulfur and other impurities. Crude oil can be refined into gasoline of different grades and chemicals for making plastics. [Click here to view image.]

Photo Credits:
Photo 1: Lara Solt/Dallas Morning News/Corbis; photo 2: Greg Smith/Corbis; inset: courtesy of Suncor Energy, Inc.; photo 3: Courtesy of Petro-Canada; photo 4: Courtesy of Suncor Energy, Inc.; photo 5: Hans-Juergen Burkard/Bilderberg; inset: courtesy of Suncrude Canada Ltd.; photo 6: Hans-Juergen Burkard/Bilderberg; photo 7: Courtesy of Syncrude Canada Ltd.; photo 8: Courtesy of Syncrude Canada Ltd.
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Comments

  • Alternative Fuels
    Guest (TR Reader) on 12/21/2005 at 2:06 PM
    Posts:
    1
    The world has become so dependant on oil that we are willing to go to any extent to get it.  Here we are destroying large areas of delicate ecosystems to get very expensive oil in a process that releases more pollution than a standard oil well.  We need to get serious about alternative fuels like solar, wind, ocean currents and hydrogen.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Alternative Fuels
    Guest (TR Reader) on 12/21/2005 at 2:06 PM
    Posts:
    1
    The world has become so dependant on oil that we are willing to go to any extent to get it.  Here we are destroying large areas of delicate ecosystems to get very expensive oil in a process that releases more pollution than a standard oil well.  We need to get serious about alternative fuels like solar, wind, ocean currents and hydrogen.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • there are alternatives to natural gas
      Guest (Mark Jones) on 01/11/2006 at 12:00 AM
      Posts:
      1
      Tar sand processing requires heat and hydrogen.  Total has announced plans to use nuclear energy to power this processing (Gauthier-Villars, David; "Total May Use Atomic Power at Oil-Sand Project", Wall Street Journal, 22 September 2005, page B6).  This comes with other concerns, but CO2 emissions aren't an issue.  If it comes to pass, it will represent the first use of nuclear energy in commercial petrochemical processing.  Oil sand processing is only one of the processes that could use heat derived from nuclear energy.
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Alternative Fuels
    Guest (TR Reader) on 12/21/2005 at 2:06 PM
    Posts:
    1
    The world has become so dependant on oil that we are willing to go to any extent to get it.  Here we are destroying large areas of delicate ecosystems to get very expensive oil in a process that releases more pollution than a standard oil well.  We need to get serious about alternative fuels like solar, wind, ocean currents and hydrogen.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • Extensive use of natural gas for processing
    Guest (Dave Hershberger) on 01/09/2006 at 11:32 AM
    Posts:
    1
    Great article and photos!

    Another interesting bit of information is that enormous amounts of natural gas (methane) are required during the processing of oil sand into light synthetic crude.  Natural gas is burned to generate heat during initial processing.  Later even more is used in the &quotupgrading&quot process (photo 7), because each place a long chain is broken, a new hydrogen must be attached to each broken end of the resulting chains.  This hydrogen comes most easily from methane.

    My point is that development of the tar sands depends on using more and more natural gas, which is itself becoming a scarce resource.

    In the long run, radical energy conservation is the only solution.
    Rate this comment: 12345
  • oil sands
    Guest (BOB SCHULZ) on 03/02/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts:
    1
    NOTHING IS MENTIONED ABOUT THE LAND RECLAIMATION. How come? Nothing is mentioned about the new processes being developed. How come? The article is completley negative and one sided.
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Re: oil sands
      markricelobe on 02/12/2007 at 4:20 PM
      Posts:
      1
      Have you been to the oil sands and seen the the reclamation areas?  Small acreages of grid-perfect rows of trees, founded on a mixture of gypsum and sand stone.  It's the most unnatural and nauseating practice I've ever had the misfortune of seeing.
      Rate this comment: 12345
  • Factual error in Bourzac article
    Guest (Roger Collins) on 03/02/2006 at 12:00 AM
    Posts:
    1
    The Cat 797 weighs nothing like the "500 metric tonnes unloaded" quoted in the article. A check of the Caterpillar site reveals the rig weighs around ....

    Operating Weight - Empty
    557372 lb / 252820 kg

    - which must be no more than 253 metric tonnes - or 249 tonnes.

    If we're going to have articles in this vein in future, is it too much to ask that writers and editors check their facts before publication?

    Here, see for yourself....

    http://www.cat.com/cda/layout?m=37840&x=7&location=drop
    Rate this comment: 12345
    • Diesel Fuel From Tarsands
      Guest (Colin) on 03/04/2006 at 12:00 AM
      Posts:
      1
      If more small autos in the United States used diesel, there would be less need to cat-crack the fuel into gasoline. Producing heavier distilates would be a win/win.
      Rate this comment: 12345
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