Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in upgrading and refining of Canada's oil sands products

A model-FUNNEL-GHG-OS (FUNdamental ENgineering PrinciplEs- based ModeL for Estimation of GreenHouse Gases in the Oil Sands) based on fundamental engineering principles was developed to estimate the specific energy consumption and GHGs (greenhouse gas emissions) for upgrading bitumen to produce SCO (synthetic crude oil). The model estimates quantity of SCO produced, the consumption of hydrogen, steam, natural gas and power in two different upgrading operations, namely delayed coking and hydroconversion. Hydroconversion upgrading is more energy and GHG (433.4 kgCO2eq/m3 of bitumen) intensive than delayed coker upgrading (240.3 kgCO2eq/m3 of bitumen) but obtains a higher yield of SCO. This research explores bitumen pathways in oil sands – upgrading bitumen to SCO, followed by transporting and refining SCO as compared to transporting and refining dilbit. The energy consumption, GHG emissions and volume of transportation fuels obtained from refining of different oil sands feeds has been investigated. Refining of oil sands products produce 7.9 to 15.72 gCO2eq per MJ of refined product. Refining of SCO to transportation fuels produces 41% and 49% less emissions than dilbit and bitumen respectively.