Sensor development in oil sand processing

Dougan, P.; McDowell, Kathleen

doi:10.1109/dmca.1997.603553

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…One of the earliest papers in this regard was Clark (1944). The economic benefits from the extraction of oil from oil sand deposits in Alberta are huge (Dougan and McDowell, 1997) and with such huge quantities of material being processed in an oil sands extraction operation, even a small improvement in process efficiency and operation can greatly influence bitumen recovery, reduce environmental impact and influence process economics. The extraction process is the next step after mining and most of the variability in the oil sands feed is channeled to the extraction process.…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An overview of an industrial hot water based extraction process can be found in Masliyah et al (2004); Dougan and McDowell (1997). The extraction process flowsheet at Suncor Energy Inc., Fort McMurray, is shown in Fig.…”

Section: Process Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The extraction process is the next step after mining and most of the variability in the oil sands feed is channeled to the extraction process. There is tremendous scope for improvement in the way advanced process control is used in oil sands processing; and the extraction process is an ideal candidate for the application of dynamic model based control (Dougan and McDowell, 1997).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Interface level regulation in an oil sands separation cell using model-based predictive control

Narang

Shah

Chen

et al. 2015

International Journal of Mineral Processing

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Process Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Interface level regulation in an oil sands separation cell using model-based predictive control

Narang

Shah

Chen

et al. 2015

International Journal of Mineral Processing

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“…As illustrated in Figure , the water‐based extraction process in surface mining operation consists of the following inter‐related steps: ore preparation, slurry preparation and hydro‐transport, primary extraction, froth treatment, and solvent recovery . In this section, we give a brief overview of each step and present some of the current or potential soft sensor applications.…”

Section: Soft Sensing In Oil Sands Extraction Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft sensor solutions for control of oil sands processes

et al. 2013

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Oil sands development is both a costly and technically complex business with potential concerns in land use, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is of practical interest to further investigate novel techniques to improve profitability while diligently maintaining environmental compliance. Our approach for finding solutions to achieve this objective is to develop innovative strategies for advanced monitoring, optimisation and control of plant operations. Development of reliable process models is a key requirement for investigating the behaviour of complex systems. Such descriptive models can help to improve analysis, simulation, optimisation, design, control and operation of process systems at both micro and macro levels. This paper presents a summary of some of the successful applications focussed on development and implementation of inferential process models, also known as soft sensors for oil sands processes.Keywords: soft sensor, oil sands, bitumen extraction INTRODUCTIONT he very nature of oil sands extraction processes is to separate highly viscous bitumen from other components, which are mainly water and solids (e.g. clays and sand). This task is performed in multiple steps that involve: breaking the feed received from the mine into smaller chunks; screening out oversized materials; preparing slurry through addition of hot process water and separating bitumen, solids and water through a series of gravity and/or centrifugal separation units and usage of process aids. Despite the apparent simplicity of the overall process, different factors render the operation of the process quite complex. Some of these factors are: variation of the feed quality and rate; mechanical and electrical constraints related to equipment size; existence of multiple operating conditions; restrictions of downstream processes; and availability of process utilities such as hot process water or steam.Oil sands development is both a costly and technically complex business with potential concerns raising due to land use, water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, real-time process monitoring and control techniques are needed in many areas in order to ensure a smooth operation, achieve high throughput, stay close to the optimal boundaries of the process operating envelope, and minimise environmental footprints. An essential prerequisite for a successful process monitoring and control scheme is continuous collection of reliable and accurate data reflecting the equipment and plant operating status. However, extraction operations are naturally subject to harsh operating conditions with climate (ambient temperature and rain) playing a secondary role as an enhancement agent. Such conditions would affect reliability, accuracy and efficiency (i.e. service factor) of the instrumentation system. Moreover, measurements of quality variables (e.g. stream composition) are normally obtained through on-line quality analysers or off-line laboratory analysis with time delays of a few hours. Discontinuity and signif...

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“…Among many extraction processing steps, bitumen froth transportation is one of the most important units. Syncrude Canada Ltd., one of the world's largest oil sands companies mainly operating in surface mining, extraction, upgrading and utility facilities (Dougan & McDowell, 1997), strives for innovative ways of froth transportation to maximize bitumen recovery rate and reduce unit cost. One of the major challenges to achieve a reliable and efficient froth transportation is the lack of reliable and accurate key process measurements at a high frequency for control in real-time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Froth Pipeline Water Content Estimation and Control

Miao

Zheng

et al. 2015

IFAC-PapersOnLine

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This paper presents a successful application of soft sensor based control for froth pipeline water content in oil sands industry. Water content is a key process quality variable for inter-site froth transportation through pipeline, which should be controlled within a specific range by adding hot processing water into the pipeline to maintain a reliable operating condition. A dynamic soft sensor incorporated with on-line bias update is developed to estimate the water content in real-time. Based on the soft sensor, a control strategy is consequently implemented to control the froth pipeline water content. Significant improvement of water content control is obtained from the successful application to a froth pipeline, which demonstrates the effectiveness, reliability and advantage of the soft sensor and control proposed.

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Sensor development in oil sand processing

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Interface level regulation in an oil sands separation cell using model-based predictive control

Interface level regulation in an oil sands separation cell using model-based predictive control

Soft sensor solutions for control of oil sands processes

Froth Pipeline Water Content Estimation and Control

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