Reducing bitumen extraction with electromagnetic heating and solvents
Funded through Round 1: Open Call in 2010, the Effective Solvent Extraction Incorporating Electromagnetic Heating (ESEIEH®) Project aimed to replace steam for in situ bitumen extraction with electromagnetic heating in combination with solvent dilution. The project was completed in 2023 and evaluated the efficacy of this combination through numerical modelling studies, radio frequency (RF) hardware design and manufacture, facility design and construction and two field trials. While technically successful, and potentially expandable to other industries, this technology is unlikely to reach high rates of commercial implementation in the oilsands application unless large quantities of excess low-carbon electricity become available. It would also require a paradigm shift, and associated cost, compared to current operational practices.
The Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Florida, CNOOC Limited/Nexen Inc., Devon Canada, and Suncor Energy Inc. make up the ESEIEH Consortium. The ESEIEH® process is envisioned as a long-term replacement for steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), the main source of emissions in Alberta’s oilsands. While the traditional SAGD process relies solely on the combustion of large amounts of natural gas to produce steam for heating bitumen in the formation, the ESEIEH® Process uses a combination of solvent and electromagnetically-derived heat to lower the viscosity of the bitumen, allowing it to be pumped to surface and processed for market. This process requires significantly lower overall energy and has the potential to source that energy from a low-carbon source (such as renewables), thus creating a lower greenhouse gas (GHG) recovery process. Additionally, because ESEIEH® eliminates the need for fossil fuel combustion and steam production, it bypasses the associated thermal losses. By some estimates, on a full cycle basis, GHG emissions may be reduced by up to 80 per cent from SAGD using this process – but this does assume that large quantities of low-carbon electricity are available to use, which is not currently the case in Alberta.
Mitigating Radio Frequency Antenna Challenges
The project successfully designed and manufactured a radio frequency (RF) antenna and deployed it in two field tests. The field tests validated the electromagnetic penetration into oilsands reservoirs as well as the potential GHG reductions. While the project achieved these goals, the RF antenna failed several times during the in-situ test. The project team conducted a failure replication test and found the root cause was a combination of technical and quality control issues that occurred during the project execution. The causal factors for these incidents were likely a result of remediation procedures during the initial installation, which introduced metal debris and rust, resulting in the initial failure of the antenna by causing the center tool head isolator section to overheat and fail. Identifying these factors resulted in an effective corrective action plan, but it did highlight the fact that the technology may face robustness and viability issues when introduced to a commercial SAGD environment due to the numerous environmental and operational factors at play. To implement this at full commercial scale would likely entail major changes to current SAGD operations.
What’s next?
While this project was technically successful, since being completed, it hasn’t been put into commercial use by oilsands companies, due to the significant operational changes required, the high cost and complexity of implementation and the lack of access to low-carbon electricity. The technology has advanced, however, and may be applicable to other, non-oilsands industries. In December 2021, TerraVent Enviornmental Inc. reached an agreement with Harris to purchase the technology assets and intellectual property. TerraVent Enviornmental Inc. intends to resume the ESEIEH® research and development program to test prototype designs and advance full-scale field piloting options. These will focus primarily on other markets that may benefit from the application of the project’s advancements, such as mining. It is conceivable that should market conditions change dramatically, the oilsands could reconsider implementing this technology in the future, depending on how it compares against alternatives, such as natural gas with carbon capture, and/or production of steam from other low carbon sources, like nuclear fission.