I posted this in this thread
here, but I think this is important enough to warrant its own thread here in the Energy Technology section.
Peakers and doomers like to cite the restricted availability of water from the Athabasca River as one of the obstacles on the amount of oil that can be extracted from the Canadian oil sands. Unfortunately for them, human ingenuity comes to the rescue once again!
First, we go here:
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Suncor Energy says oilsands expansion will go ahead <--
Noteworthy, with the emphasis on the bolded item:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')nvironmental concerns played a large role in planning for the expansion, George said.
"We've worked very hard here in terms of continuing to reduce and minimize our impact on water land and air resources,'' he said.
George said Suncor has already reduced its water use 50 per cent per barrel over the last five years and there is no new increase in its licence to take water from Athabasca river.
Because Voyager will rely on in-situ mining at the Firebag reservoir, rather than open-pit mining, less land disturbance will be caused and George said Suncor will continue to invest in technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, already down 50 per cent since 1990.
Suncor will use the steam assisted gravity drainage, or SAGD, process to get the oil out of the ground. That method uses ultra-hot steam to heat the bitumen up underground, making it thin enough to draw to the surface.
. . .
George said Suncor would also look into other technologies, though he didn't specify which kinds.
One promising method could be Toe-to-Heel Air Injection, patented by Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., which uses air and the bitumen itself to heat underground reserves.
The THAI process requires no water and uses up significantly less energy than SAGD.
Now, let's find out a bit more about this Toe-to-Heel Air Injection, a.k.a THAI . . .
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '.') . . THAI™ uses a system where air is injected into the oil deposit down a vertical well and is ignited. The heat generated in the reservoir reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a second, horizontal well from where it rises to the surface.
. . .