Current Active Projects |
New Project Proposals
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Phosphorus in Crude Scope
This project was initiated in 1995, in response to fraction tower fouling observed at three Canadian refineries. Phosphorus was determined to be a significant component of the foulant and traced back to additive usage within the production industry. Since its inception, the project has dealt with various phases of contaminant and key additive identification, elucidation of the fouling mechanism, the development of both chemical and process alternatives, and the implementation of crude oil specifications.
A limit was established, effective July 1, 2005, of a maximum of 0.5 ppm voltile phosphorus in crude by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Enforcement of this limit has begun effective January 1, 2007.
Further information on this issue can be found on the phosphorus in crude page.
NGL Contamination Project
Subsequent to the discovery of a fouling problem associated with processing field butane, a project has been initiated examining the nature and source of the foulant. This project is intended to confirm the existence of a common cause, to track the contamination from affected plants to source, to identify the activities or processes generating the contamination, and to develop a management process for reducing or eliminating the issue at source and/or at the facilities.
Heavy Oil Methods Manual
A new project is underway to identify issues
in the application of crude oil methodology to heavy crude oil and
bitumens. The intent of this project is to review available methods
and information on the problems with application to heavy crudes
and bitumens, and provide information on the nature of these problems.
Initially, the project is intended to be solely literature review
and documentation. Future work may involve research to resolve methodology
application issues for this matrix.
TAN Project
In Phase I of this project, the focus is on acid
numbers (TAN & NAN) and their concentration in whole crudes,
their distribution in product fractions, the impact on the TAN &
NAN values of blending with common diluents, as well as the impact
of transporation. The project is focusing on Athabasca oilsands
SAGD crudes.
Phase II of this project is now completed. In Phase II, additional
work was done optimizing the TAN & NAN methods for application
to heavy crude oil, as well as corrosion testing on an Athabasca
oilsands syn-bit (bitumen diluted with synthetic crude) and benchmark
world market corrosive crudes. Investigation of the naphthenic acid
species present was also performed by FT-ICR mass spectrometry.
In Phase III, further investigation of the corrosivity of Athabasca bitumen gas-oils and other benchmark crude oils will be carried out utilizing a new vacuum autoclave system. This new system will utilize a continuous sample feed, under vacuum, temperatures and shear conditions representative of vacuum tower operation. Further work is also planned to establish which of the naphthenic acid species present are corrosive, using FT-ICR mass spectrometry.
Iron Fouling Project
This project is designed to investigate the role of iron in Canadian
crude oils and condensates as an emulsion stabilizer, a process
foulant, and a process contaminant. Impacts to desalters, hydrotreaters,
and FCCU catalysts are also included in the scope.
Oilsands Bitumen Processability
This project is examining the contaminants in oilsands
bitumen commonly held to impact on its processability. The investigation
is initially targetting salts and solids (quantity, composition
and size distribution), TAN, and asphaltenes content.
Targetted streams are the currently produced SAGD oilsands bitumens,
along with Western Canadian Select.