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Orimulsion is a registered trademark name for a bitumen-based fuel that was developed for industrial use by Intevep, the Research and Development Affiliate of Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), following earlier collaboration on oil emulsions with BP.
Like coal and oil, bitumen occurs naturally and is obtained from the world's largest deposit in the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela. The deposit is estimated to be more than 1,300 billion barrels (190 billion m3) of bitumen, an amount approximately equivalent to the world's estimated proven oil reserves. [1] [2]
Raw bitumen has an extremely high viscosity and specific gravity between 8 and 10 API gravity at ambient temperatures, making it unsuitable for direct use in conventional power stations. Orimulsion is produced by mixing the bitumen with approximately 30% fresh water and a small amount of surfactant. The resulting mixture behaves similarly to fuel oil. Recently, an alcohol-based surfactant has replaced the original phenol-based version, improving the transport properties of the fuel and eliminating the health concerns associated with the phenol group of surfactants.
As a fuel for electricity generation, Orimulsion has a number of attractive characteristics:[ citation needed ]
While Orimulsion is little different to fuel oil in relation to environmental impacts when burnt, being similarly susceptible to pollution mitigation techniques, it is more problematic in spill situations. [3] If a spill occurs during shipping over water, the Orimulsion mixture de-emulsifies, causing the bitumen to separate and no longer remain in suspension.
Orimulsion is classified as a non-Newtonian fluid, and if its temperature drops below 30 °C, it undergoes a process referred to as 'setting'[ further explanation needed ]. Once set, it becomes extremely difficult to pump, and restarting operations or restoring the flow through the pipeline becomes impossible.
Orimulsion is currently used as a commercial boiler fuel in power plants worldwide, including countries such as Japan, Italy [4] and China. Its usage was previously more widespread, and there was an increasing demand for it. However, following the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–03, many engineers from PDVSA were dismissed. Since Orimulsion had been highly regarded by these engineers, it lost favor among key political leaders.[ dubious – discuss ] Consequently, the Venezuelan government has been attempting to gradually phase out the Orimulsion program, except for its sales to China. The Venezuelan government maintains close ties with China, similar to its relationship with Cuba. As a result, China continues to receive supplies of Orimulsion, while the rest of the world either had their supply terminated or is still in the process of winding down. Despite these developments, Orimulsion still holds great potential for domestic consumption.[ citation needed ]
Another reason given by current PDVSA management is that with rising crude oil prices, it has been found that mixing or diluting Orinoco bitumen (extra-heavy oil) with a lighter crude oil can make this blend more profitable as a crude oil on the world market than by selling it as Orimulsion. An example of this is the popular Merey blend (Orinoco bitumen and Mesa crude oil). ConocoPhillips along with PDVSA operate the Merey Sweeny 58,000-barrel-per-day (9,200 m3/d) (bpd) delayed coker, vacuum tower and related facilities at ConocoPhillips' refinery in Sweeny, Texas, U.S.A. for processing and upgrading heavy sour Merey crude oil. [5]
Air pollutant control technology that is commonly available can limit emissions from Orimulsion to levels considered "Best Available Control Technology", as defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. [6]
Bitumen is an immensely viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American English, the material is commonly referred to as asphalt. Whether found in natural deposits or refined from petroleum, the substance is classed as a pitch. Prior to the 20th century, the term asphaltum was in general use. The word derives from the Ancient Greek word ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos), which referred to natural bitumen or pitch. The largest natural deposit of bitumen in the world is the Pitch Lake of southwest Trinidad, which is estimated to contain 10 million tons.
Petroleum or crude oil, also referred to as simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that consist of refined crude oil.
Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen, a dense and extremely viscous form of petroleum.
The Athabasca oil sands, also known as the Athabasca tar sands, are large deposits of bitumen, a heavy and viscous form of petroleum, located in northeastern Alberta, Canada. These reserves are one of the largest sources of unconventional oil in the world, making Canada a significant player in the global energy market.
Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. is the Venezuelan state-owned oil and natural gas company. It has activities in exploration, production, refining and exporting oil as well as exploration and production of natural gas. Since its founding on 1 January 1976, with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, PDVSA has dominated the oil industry of Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter.
An emission intensity is the emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity, or an industrial production process; for example grams of carbon dioxide released per megajoule of energy produced, or the ratio of greenhouse gas emissions produced to gross domestic product (GDP). Emission intensities are used to derive estimates of air pollutant or greenhouse gas emissions based on the amount of fuel combusted, the number of animals in animal husbandry, on industrial production levels, distances traveled or similar activity data. Emission intensities may also be used to compare the environmental impact of different fuels or activities. In some case the related terms emission factor and carbon intensity are used interchangeably. The jargon used can be different, for different fields/industrial sectors; normally the term "carbon" excludes other pollutants, such as particulate emissions. One commonly used figure is carbon intensity per kilowatt-hour (CIPK), which is used to compare emissions from different sources of electrical power.
Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke, pet coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in particular, derives from a final cracking process—a thermo-based chemical engineering process that splits long chain hydrocarbons of petroleum into shorter chains—that takes place in units termed coker units. Stated succinctly, coke is the "carbonization product of high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions obtained in petroleum processing ". Petcoke is also produced in the production of synthetic crude oil (syncrude) from bitumen extracted from Canada's tar sands and from Venezuela's Orinoco oil sands. In petroleum coker units, residual oils from other distillation processes used in petroleum refining are treated at a high temperature and pressure leaving the petcoke after driving off gases and volatiles, and separating off remaining light and heavy oils. These processes are termed "coking processes", and most typically employ chemical engineering plant operations for the specific process of delayed coking.
Heavy crude oil is highly viscous oil that cannot easily flow from production wells under normal reservoir conditions.
The Orinoco Belt is a territory in the southern strip of the eastern Orinoco River Basin in Venezuela which overlies the world's largest deposits of petroleum. Its local Spanish name is Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco.
The Wood River Refinery is an oil refinery located in Roxana, Illinois, approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of St. Louis, Missouri, on the east side of the Mississippi River. The refinery is currently owned by Phillips 66 and Cenovus Energy and operated by the joint-venture company WRB Refining, LLC (WRB). WRB was formed on 1 July 2007, with Encana taking a 49% interest in Wood River and also Phillips 66's Borger refinery. Encana subsequently spun off oil sands producer Cenovus and ConocoPhillips spun off Phillips 66. In return for a 49% stake in the refinery, ConocoPhillips gained a joint interest in two Alberta oil sands (bitumen) heavy oil projects: Christina Lake (Alberta) and Foster Creek. ConocoPhillips’ interest was sold to Cenovus in May 2017, leaving Cenovus as the sole owner of the assets.
Bitumen-based fuel is fuel specifically developed for industrial use. Raw bitumen, processed from Bituminous rocks, has an extremely high viscosity.
Venezuela has the largest conventional oil reserves and the second-largest natural gas reserves in the Western Hemisphere. In addition Venezuela has non-conventional oil deposits approximately equal to the world's reserves of conventional oil. Venezuela is also amongst world leaders in hydroelectric production, supplying a majority of the nation's electrical power through the process.
Venezuela was one of the world's largest producers of oil, and the country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Venezuela is a member of OPEC.
The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling 300 billion barrels (4.8×1010 m3) as of 1 January 2014. The 2019 edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy reports the total proved reserves of 303.3 billion barrels for Venezuela (slightly more than Saudi Arabia's 297.7 billion barrels).
The Coleson Cove Generating Station is a 1050 MW fuel oil-fired power station located at 4077 King William Road in the community of Lorneville on the extreme western boundary of the city of Saint John, New Brunswick.
The Long Lake oil sands upgrader project is an in situ oil extraction project near Anzac, Alberta, 40 km (25 mi) southeast of Fort McMurray in the Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta.
Emulsified Fuels are emulsions composed of water and a combustible liquid, either oil or a fuel. Emulsions are a particular example of a dispersion comprising a continuous and a dispersed phase. The most commonly used emulsion fuel is water-in-diesel emulsion. In the case of emulsions, both phases are the immiscible liquids, oil and water. Emulsion fuels can be either a microemulsion or an ordinary emulsion. The essential differences between the two are stability and particle size distribution. Microemulsions are isotropic whereas macroemulsions are prone to settling and changes in particle size over time. Both use surfactants and can be either water-in-oil, or oil-in-water or bicontinuous.
Bitumen froth treatment is a process used in the Athabasca oil sands (AOS) bitumen recovery operations to remove fine inorganics—water and mineral particles—from bitumen froth, by diluting the bitumen with a light hydrocarbon solvent—either naphthenic or paraffinic—to reduce the viscosity of the froth and to remove contaminants that were not removed in previous water-based gravity recovery phases. Bitumen with a high viscosity or with too many contaminants, is not suitable for transporting through pipelines or refining. The original and conventional naphthenic froth treatment (NFT) uses a naphtha solvent with the addition of chemicals. Paraffinic Solvent Froth Treatment (PSFT), which was first used commercially in the Albian Sands in the early 2000s, results in a cleaner bitumen with lower levels of contaminates, such as water and mineral solids. Following froth treatments, bitumen can be further upgraded using "heat to produce synthetic crude oil by means of a coker unit."
Carabobo is an oil field located in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt. As one of the world's largest accumulations of recoverable oil, the recent discoveries in the Orinoco Belt have led to Venezuela holding the world's largest recoverable reserves in the world, surpassing Saudi Arabia in July 2010. The Carabobo oil field is majority owned by Venezuela's national oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). Owning the majority of the Orinoco Belt, and its estimated 1.18 trillion barrels of oil in place, PDVSA is now the fourth largest oil company in the world. The field is well known for its extra Heavy crude oils, having an average specific gravity between 4 and 16 °API. The Orinoco Belt holds 90% of the world's extra heavy crude oils, estimated at 256 billion recoverable barrels. While production is in its early development, the Carabobo field is expected to produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day.
Heavy fuel oil (HFO) is a category of fuel oils of a tar-like consistency. Also known as bunker fuel, or residual fuel oil, HFO is the result or remnant from the distillation and cracking process of petroleum. For this reason, HFO is contaminated with several different compounds including aromatics, sulfur, and nitrogen, making emissions upon combustion more polluting compared to other fuel oils. HFO is predominantly used as a fuel source for marine vessel propulsion using marine diesel engines due to its relatively low cost compared to cleaner fuel sources such as distillates. The use and carriage of HFO on-board vessels presents several environmental concerns, namely the risk of oil spill and the emission of toxic compounds and particulates including black carbon. The use of HFOs is banned as a fuel source for ships travelling in the Antarctic as part of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code). For similar reasons, an HFO ban in Arctic waters is currently being considered.