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Fall 2016

Stewart, Robert A

Bitumen and heavy oil comprise a significant percentage of proven oil reserves globally. The environmental impacts of producing these resources with current technologies is a concern for environmentalists, oil producing companies, resource rich jurisdictions and society at large. Dilution of the...

Spring 2021

Longley, Hereward

This dissertation examines the first development phase of the Alberta oil sands industry from the 1960s to the early 1990s. It draws on public and private records from archives in Canada and the United States, the results of collaborative research with the Fort McMurray Métis, and oral history...

Spring 2016

Yang,Fan

During the extraction of crude oil or bitumen, stable water-in-oil emulsions are inevitably formed. The emulsified water contains chloride ions and other organic acidic compounds that cause severe corrosion problems to the downstream plant equipment, creating operational and safety issues and...

Spring 2015

Primkulov, Bauyrzhan K

The minable oil sands extraction process can be understood on a scale of a single oil sand grain. When the oil sand ore is mixed with warm water, each sand granule is initially covered with bitumen film which ruptures under the composite effect of shear and interfacial forces, while water...

Fall 2011

Christopher, Street

The growing interest in the oilsands bitumen reserves, a large portion of which is unattainable by current industrial processes, has generated a need for an improved process for oilsands extracting and upgrading. The effects of using chabazite as a catalyst for cracking and upgrading of oilsands...

Fall 2023

Yanez Jaramillo, Lina Maria

At the heart of heavy oil and bitumen upgrading, thermal conversion technologies are found. One such process is visbreaking where bitumen is thermally converted into lighter materials. However, the conversion by visbreaking is limited by the onset of the formation of solid carbonaceous materials...

Fall 2014

Afshar, Shima

The current water-based method of bitumen extraction requires withdrawal of fresh water from the Athabasca River — a practice which leads to the continual buildup of tailings ponds and other environmental concerns. As Alberta’s bitumen production is expected to more than double by 2020, there is...

1987

Kaleli, Mehmet Kadri.

Fall 2013

Toosi, Elaheh

Bitumen, as one of the most important unconventional sources of energy, has long been an attractive source for production of liquid fuels. It is important to improve the yield and quality of the useful products resulting from bitumen upgrading processes so that the best outcome can be achieved...

Fall 2014

Chen, Liang

The formation of stable water-in-oil emulsions during bitumen extraction poses problems for water separation from diluted bitumen, which leads to equipment corrosion and catalyst fouling in downstream operations. Demulsifiers are used to break the stable emulsions and assist the separation of...