In recent years, Canada's previously stable energy economy has undergone a series of remarkable changes. The early seventies, and particularly the dramatic OPEC price increases of 1973, have marked the advent of a new era in energy policy. Canadian governments seem unwilling to accept the fact that national net self-sufficiency in energy, particularly in oil, may well be a thing of the past. Thus, mammoth energy projects have been proposed or undertaken by industry and government alike, in a desperate attempt to reduce dependence on foreign sources of supply. This new sense of urgency has led to unprecedented co-operation between government and industry, while increasing the traditional tension amongst different levels of government. Typical both of the novel pattern of development and of the unusual government-industry alliance is the Syncrude project, the latest attempt at exploiting the Alberta oil sands. This paper investigates the potential role that the oil sands might play in Canada's energy future. Mora specifically, the economics of Syncrude itself are analysed, and conclusions of a general nature are based on this case study. In section 1, the reader is introduced to the topic through a description of the oil sands, a review of currently available recovery and refining methods, and a short history of oil sands development. Sections 2 and 3 constitute the main body of the paper, dealing first with the expected costs and benefits of the Syncrude project and, second, with the likely macroeconomic consequences. Finally, section -i explores the implications of more substantial oil sands development, compares the various techniques that might be employed in the future, and discusses the oil sands' role in the national energy policy. The conclusions of the paper have several dimensions. With regard to the cost-benefit analysis, Syncrude as a whole seems to be a rather marginal venture. Particularly interesting is the manner in which the returns are distributed among the various consortium members, as alberta and the private industry participants are subsidized by Ontario and the federal government. Although consideration of sunk costs at the time of Syncrude's "go" decision somewhat improves the basic economic picture, an analysis of risk and uncertainty demonstrates how sensitive returns are with respect to several unknown parameters. Some of the special arrangements of royalty and taxation that distinguish Syncrude from the petroleum industry in general are quantified, thus demonstrating the extent to which this project is being subsidized relative to others. Also, a crude appraisal of the scale economies in oil sands development is attempted. On the macroeconomic side, a dynamic simulation model of Syncrude is incorporated into RDX2, an aggregate econometric model of the Canadian economy. This enables an appraisal of the likely consequences that oil sands development may have for the national economy. The major conclusion is that such projects can hardly be justified on the basis of their aggregate effects, if the cost-benefit results are unfavourable. In the final section, an analysis of more intensive oil sands development (several Syncrude-size plants) shows that the present government-industry arrangements are unlikely to apply to future oil sands ventures. Thus, private industry will probably be dissuaded from engaging in further surface-mining schemes, pending some major cost-rsducing technological breakthrough and/or a substantial increase in the relative price of oil. Although similar financial and technical problems currently haunt 'in situ' development, it is believed that this recovery method will play a greater part in the oil sands' future. Finally, some critical remarks are included on the national energy policy and the governments' handling of Syncrude. An attempt is made to analyze why Ottawa, Alberta and Ontario decided to join the companies in an obviously marginal and risky undertaking. Sy results suggest that little, if any, analysis preceded either the federal or the Ontario government's decision to participate in the project. In this regard, I conclude that Syncrude could set a dangerous precedent for the future management of the country's resources. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

<p> A two stage chromatographic separation method was adapted to the separation of nitrogen-containing compounds from heavy syncrude oils. Crude oil samples were first chromatographed on alumina to obtain an aliphatic fraction A1 (70 wt% of oil, <1% of total nitrogen), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fraction A2 (20%, 16%N) and a nitrogenous fraction A3 (3%, 80%N). The nitrogenous fraction was further separated on silicic acid into three fractions: a secondary-PANH fraction S1 (61% total N), an amino-PAH and tertiary-PANH fraction S2 (4%N) and a tertiary-PANH fraction S3 (9%N). One Tar Sand and two oil residue samples, provided by Shell Canada Ltd, were taken through this procedure.</p> <p> The nitrogen-containing fractions were analyzed by mass spectrometry (electron impact, methane chemical ionization and ammonia chemical ionization) and by two chromatographic methods (gas and reverse phase liquid chromatography). Further analyses were performed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C) spectroscopy.</p> <p> The nitrogenous components in the S1 fractions were shown to be alkylated carbazoles, containing from one to twenty carbons attached to the carbazole nucleus, in varying degrees of unsaturation ranging from zero to five degrees of unsaturation. The distribution of carbon substitution maximized in the C5 to C8 range for the different series of alkylcarbazoles. The distribution of the degrees of unsaturation in the Tar Sand oil sample was: saturated carbazoles, 32%, 1-degree unsaturates, 23%, 2-degree, 9%, 3-degree, 16%, 4-degree, 12% and 5-degree, 8%. In the processed Peace River residue, the ratio between the saturated, 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 5-degree unsaturated carbazoles was 28%:39%:18%:6%:6%:3%. From the 1H NMR spectrum the ratio of benzylic to aliphatic resonances was 1:1.25 which was interpreted to mean that the alkyl chains attached to the carbazole nucleus were short on average. A complete lack of vinyl proton absorption indicated that few alkene bonds if any were present; thus, the degrees of unsaturations must be accommodated by rings or benzo-annulations.</p> <p> Of all the analytical methods used, ammonia chemical ionization mass spectrometry (NH3 CIMS) was found to be a most useful and selective method and was used in probe MS, GC/MS and LC/MS experiments. Reverse phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) was more useful in this work than capillary column gas chromatography (CCGC). A combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments (1H, 13C, 13C spectral editing, 1H-13C shift correlation and 13C T1 ) was found to be extremely useful for these samples because of the unique information these experiments provided.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Microorganisms are the most abundant living things on the planet and they drive many important environmental processes. They can do this by coupling reduction – oxidation (redox) reactions. In such reactions, the oxidation of reduced organic matter is coupled with the reduction of another compound, which serves as the electron acceptor. All microbes contain lipids in their cells; phospholipids are the main components of the cell membrane where they make up a consistent component of cell mass. Therefore, in situations where direct cell count is unrealistic, lipid analysis can be used to provide information on microbial communities. Because they hydrolyze shortly after cell death,PLFAs indicate only viable cell biomass, and PLFA analysis provides valuable insight on cell density distribution across a site. One application of PLFA analysis is within this thesis, where it was used to investigate the microbial community at Mildred Lake, Syncrude’s primary tailings settling basin. At Mildred Lake, Syncrude is constructing a freshwater fen over the deposited composite tailings (CT) as part of their reclamation process. Understanding the microbial biogeochemical cycling associated with these reclamation activities is an important component for management decisions affecting the site and thus, inform future reclamation activities.</p> <p>PLFA analysis on samples from the site showed variable concentrations equivalent to estimated cell densities on the order of 107 decreasing to 106 in the CT.These cell density ranges are expected for oligotrophic systems. Phospholipids can also be biomarkers if they are indicative of a specific group of microbes. The study at Mildred Lake identified biomarkers for sulfate reducing bacteria (SRBs). The presence of these biomarkers provided a basis for the hypothesis that sulfide detected at the site was potentially from SRBs.</p> <p>This thesis provides information on the fundamental concepts of lipids and the application of lipid analysis on the environmental samples from the Mildred Lake site to understand its microbial community and cycling of sulfur to prevent potential environmental issues associated with the generation of sulfide.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Energy carriers, such as coal, natural gas and biomass, can be converted by Fischer-Tropsch technology into synthetic crude (syncrude). Fischer-Tropsch derived syncrude can then be refined to transportation fuels, such as motor-gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel. These fuels meet the same specifications as crude oil derived transportation fuels. Conventional refining technologies have to be adapted to deal with Fischer-Tropsch syncrudes, because they differ significantly from crude oil with respect to composition. Some of the key differences are the high concentration of oxygenates and olefins and absence of sulphur in Fischer-Tropsch syncrude. Imposing a crude oil refining methodology on syncrude can lead to unwieldy and expensive refineries. Yet, despite an abundance of literature of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, there is little literature that deals with the refining of Fischer-Tropsch syncrude. The present study investigated current refining practice for both crude oil and Fischer-Tropsch syncrude in order to identify fundamental differences in their refining focus and conversion behaviour. This was followed by a critical evaluation of the compatibility of syncrudes from high temperature Fischer-Tropsch (HTFT) and low temperature Fischer-Tropsch (LTFT) synthesis with the chemistry and catalysis of various conversion processes. The conversion processes that were evaluated include isomerisation, oligomerisation, etherification, alkylation, metathesis, hydrogenation, hydroisomerisation, hydrocracking, catalytic cracking, coking, thermal cracking, catalytic reforming and dehydration. The recommendations from the technology evaluation provided the foundation for the development of Fischer-Tropsch syncrude based refinery designs. Refinery designs were developed to determine configurations that would maximise the production of on-specification motor-gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel respectively. It could be shown that less complex refinery designs were required to refine Fischer-Tropsch syncrude to motor-gasoline and jet fuel, than were required for crude oil refining. It was also shown that on a molecular level Fischer-Tropsch syncrude is unsuited for maximising the production of Euro-4 type diesel fuel. The present study illustrates the advantage of considering fundamentals in developing refineries specifically for Fischer-Tropsch syncrude, rather than imposing crude oil design practises on Fischer-Tropsch syncrude refinery designs. / Thesis (PhD (Chemical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Chemical Engineering / unrestricted

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are popular for their wide scope of application domains ranging from agricultural, medical, defense, industrial, social, mining, etc. Many of these applications are in outdoor type environments that are unregulated and unpredictable, thus, potentially hostile or physically harsh for sensors. The popularity of WSNs stems from their fundamental concept of being low cost and ultra-low power wireless devices that can monitor and report sensor readings with little user intervention, which has led to greater demand for WSN deployment in harsh industrial environments. We argue that there are a new set of architectural challenges and requirements imposed on the hardware, software, and network architecture of a wireless sensor platform to operate effectively under harsh industrial environments, which are not met by currently available WSN platforms. We propose a new sensor platform, called Sprouts. Sprouts is a readily deployable, physically rugged, volumetrically miniature, modular, network standard, plug-and-play (PnP), and easy to use sensor platform that will assist university researchers, developers, and industrial companies to evaluate WSN applications in the field, and potentially bring about new application domains that were previously difficult to accomplish using off the shelf WSN development platforms. Therefore, we addresses the inherent requirements and challenges across the hardware, software, and network layer required for designing and implementing Sprouts sensor platform for harsh industrial environments. We fully implement the hardware, network, and software architecture for the Sprouts platform and verify that they meet the requirements for harsh environments. We deploy the Sprouts platform customized with our PnP ultrasound sensor module in an industrial application to monitor the health conditions of Syncrude's vibration screens operating under extreme harsh conditions. Sprouts has been showcased in OCE Discovery 2011, and has been proven to be extremely valuable for industrial mining companies such as Syncrude. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2013-09-28 16:14:48.223