Pioneering a trail to new oilsands water technology

The Challenge: The oil industry is using relatively new technology to drill for heavy oil. The Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) method involves injecting steam into the ground, warming and thinning bitumen and then pumping it to the surface. Sensitive to its environmental impact, the industry is looking for ways to conserve water, and energy used to heat it. Finding ways to separate the oil and impurities from the water before it cools would allow industry to minimize its use of water and heating energy.

The Approach: By exploring and understanding the molecular-level interactions between water, oil and solids that are pumped from the ground, mechanical engineering professor Subir Bhatacharjee is devising ways to purify the water to a level that it can be re-used. Bhattacharjee is investigating the use of electrical and ultrasound forces to separate impurities and remove them from the water. With labs in the U of A-based National Institute for Nanotechnology, Bhatacharjee and his research team are also developing a new generation of membranes to remove impurities and withstand high temperatures. He looks for ways to integrate his findings into existing technology, to innovate by modifying technological applications for improved performance and to invent—to develop “radical new technologies” in water treatment.

Impact: Bhatacharjee holds the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Water Quality Management for Oilsands Extraction. In just two years he and his team have come up with research results that have convinced his main industrial supporters—Suncor, Kimera and Ottotech—to double their financial commitments to his projects. Bhatacharjee adds that any technology or approach that improves the treatment of SAGD-processed water could conceivable have applications in other industries around the world.

 

Subir Bhattacharjee
Department of Mechanical Engineering

NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Water Quality Management for Oil Sands Extraction