Innovation Anthology #9: Professor
Getting bitumen out of the oil sands in northern Alberta is a huge undertaking.
The bitumen is very thick. It makes up only 5 to 20 percent of the sand. And none of it processes the same way as it goes through the oil sands plant.
Testing the quality of bitumen to adjust the separation process is difficult when the lines move a tonne of oil sand per second.
But thanks to Rod Ridley of the Alberta Research Council and Pat Dougan of Syncrude Canada, the new sensors they’ve developed are changing that. Rod Ridley explains.
RR: For instance, one of them is measuring the amount of clay that’s in the slurry being pumped in the pipeline. And that sensor measures the radioactive decay of potassium inside of the clay. So it’s actually measuring the radiation that’s coming from the pipeline.
We have another sensor that measures the amount of bitumen that’s on the oIl sand. That sensor is based on light, how much light is absorbed as it strikes the oil sand and is reflected. And then another one that measures the amount of bitumen they lose from the process.
These new sensors mean more bitumen is recovered and less is lost forever to the tailings ponds.
Thanks today to the Alberta Research Council.
FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY, I’M CHERYL CROUCHER
Guest
Stewart Rood, PhD,
University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada,
Sponsor
Alberta Research Council
Established as the first provincial research organization in Canada, the Alberta Research Council is 85 years old. The Alberta Research Council (ARC) develops and commercializes technologies to give customers a competitive advantage. A leader in innovation, ARC provides solutions globally to the energy, life sciences, agriculture, environment, forestry and manufacturing sectors.
ARC performs about five per cent of the roughly $1.5 billion in R&D done in Alberta each year, and generates revenues of approximately $84 million per year. ARC operates from five sites across the province in Edmonton, Calgary, Vegreville and Devon and employs more than 600 highly-skilled people.
In January 2010, under the new Alberta Innovation Framework, the Alberta Research Council was restructured and incorporated into the new provincial agency Alberta Innovates Technology Futures.
Program Date: 2007-02-13