This project is concerned with improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and water consumption in thermal in situ oil sands operations. Specifically, the project is a progression along the technology development curve for the online steam quality analyser under development by Luxmux Technology Corporation and Agar Canada Corporation. The steam quality analyser will allow oil sands companies to operate at a higher level of steam quality thereby requiring less fuel to generate the same amount of steam, which results in lower GHG emissions and water consumption.
The project builds on prior proof of concept and bench scale development work by Luxmux and Agar. The scope of the project was to design, construct, commission and operate a Dual Boiler System which enabled the steam quality analyser to be tested under conditions representative of oil sands steam operations. The project also included initial testing of the steam quality
analyser by the Dual Boiler System.
Phase 1 of the project encompassed the complete design of the dual boiler system. This included detailed engineering, Process Flow Diagrams (PFD), Process and Instrumentation Diagrams (PID), flow parameters, operating parameters and any additional metrics required by the system to validate steam quality. The second phase delivered a built, commissioned and operational dual boiler system. This included purchasing of the materials, construction, commissioning and validating the control of the loop per the design while meeting all the safety criteria for operating the loop. Hazardous and operability study (HAZOP) was included before construction. The third phase was the performance of preliminary testing using the dual boiler system to demonstrate that the steam quality analyser would perform under conditions representative of the oil sands steam operations The project successfully achieved its objectives, namely the design, construction, commissioning and initial operations of the Dual Boiler System, and preliminary performance testing of the steam quality analyser under conditions representative of the oil sands team operations.
Testing is continuing to further improve the efficiency of the Dual Boiler System and the performance of the steam quality analyser. After completion of the Project, a robust data set will be developed demonstrating the performance of the steam quality analyser at conditions representative of the oil sands team operations in order to convince oil sands operators to provide field demonstration sites. Demonstration of the steam quality analyser at operational oil sands sites will follow, in order to prove the reliability and accuracy of the steam quality analyser under real operating conditions.