Purpose Life cycle costing (LCC) is a state-of-the-art method to analyze investment decisions in infrastructure projects. However, uncertainties inherent in long-term planning question the credibility of LCC results. Previous research has not systematically linked sources and methods to address this uncertainty. Part I of this series develops a framework to collect and categorize different sources of uncertainty and addressing methods. This systematization is a prerequisite to further analyze the suitability of methods and levels the playing field for part II. Methods Past reviews have dealt with selected issues of uncertainty in LCC. However, none has systematically collected uncertainties and linked methods to address them. No comprehensive categorization has been published to date. Part I addresses these two research gaps by conducting a systematic literature review. In a rigorous four-step approach, we first scrutinized major databases. Second, we performed a practical and methodological screening to identify in total 115 relevant publications, mostly case studies. Third, we applied content analysis using MAXQDA. Fourth, we illustrated results and concluded upon the research gaps. Results and discussion We identified 33 sources of uncertainty and 24 addressing methods. Sources of uncertainties were categorized according to (i) its origin, i.e., parameter, model, and scenario uncertainty and (ii) the nature of uncertainty, i.e., aleatoric or epistemic uncertainty. The methods to address uncertainties were classified into deterministic, probabilistic, possibilistic, and other methods. With regard to sources of uncertainties, lack of data and data quality was analyzed most often. Most uncertainties having been discussed were located in the use stage. With regard to methods, sensitivity analyses were applied most widely, while more complex methods such as Bayesian models were used less frequently. Data availability and the individual expertise of LCC practitioner foremost influence the selection of methods. Conclusions This article complements existing research by providing a thorough systematization of uncertainties in LCC. However, an unambiguous categorization of uncertainties is difficult and overlapping occurs. Such a systemizing approach is nevertheless necessary for further analyses and levels the playing field for readers not yet familiar with the topic. Part I concludes the following: First, an investigation about which methods are best suited to address a certain type of uncertainty is still outstanding. Second, an analysis of types of uncertainty that have been insufficiently addressed in previous LCC cases is still missing. Part II will focus on these research gaps.

Para el presente proyecto se analizó una empresa con más de 20 años de presencia en el rubro de transmisión y distribución de energía eléctrica, ubicada al sur de Lima, y cuyo servicio depende de la disponibilidad de los activos ubicados en las subestaciones eléctricas de transmisión. En el año 2019 la empresa tuvo 828 casos de fallas en estos activos, los cuales representaron 8,816MWh de energía interrumpida y cuyo impacto alcanzó los S/. 15,215,000 Por ello, este proyecto tiene como objetivo principal disminuir en 39% la cantidad de fallas y 71% en la energía no suministrada por fallas en estos activos. Estas mejoras traerán consigo la reducción de los gastos por mantenimiento preventivo y correctivo, evitar pérdidas económicas por energía dejada de vender y reducir el pago de penalidades impuestos por el ente regulador OSINERMING por no brindar un suministro continuo de energía eléctrica a los clientes. Para lograr lo expuesto anteriormente, se identificarán las causas básicas más representativas de estas fallas utilizando las herramientas Pareto e Ishikawa. Luego se calculará los costos indicados por el modelo Life Cicle Costing para finalmente proponer un plan de renovación de los activos críticos económicamente rentable. / For this project, a company with more than 20 years of presence in the electric power transmission and distribution business, located south of Lima, and whose service depends on the availability of the assets located in the electric transmission substations, was analyzed. In 2019, the company had 828 cases of failures in these assets, which represented 8,816MWh of interrupted energy and whose impact reached S /. 15,215,000 Therefore, this project's main objective is to reduce the number of failures by 39% and 71% in the energy not supplied due to failures in these assets. These improvements will bring about the reduction of expenses for preventive and corrective maintenance, avoid economic losses due to energy not being sold and reduce the payment of penalties imposed by the regulator OSINERMING for not providing a continuous supply of electricity to customers. To achieve the above, the most representative basic causes of these failures will be identified using the Pareto and Ishikawa tools. Then the costs indicated by the Life Cycle Costing model will be calculated to finally propose an economically profitable renovation plan for critical assets. / Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesional

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht Wesensmerkmale des Life Cycle Costing (LCC, dt. Lebenszykluskostenrechnung) und dessen Anwendung veröffentlicht in Fachzeitschriften. Aufgrund der langen Historie des LCC seit Beginn der 30er Jahre, gibt es zu dem Forschungsthema bereits eine Vielzahl theoretischer und empirischer Studien. Dennoch existiert bis heute keine einheitliche Definition oder ein standardisierter methodischer Rahmen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, LCC zu charakterisieren und eine sinnvolle Methode für die Klassifizierung der vorhandenen Forschungsarbeiten zu identifizieren um methodische und inhaltliche Unterschiede darzustellen. Angewandt wird die Methodik des Literature Review, respektive einer Mischform explorativ-induktiver, qualitativer und quantitativer Inhaltsanalyse. Den Prozess der Charakterisierung und Systematisierung leiten folgende Fragestellungen: Was sind die Motivatoren der Anwendung von LCC in Firmen? Gibt es ein standardisiertes Konzept analog zur Ökobilanz (LCA)? Was sind die wesentlichen Vorteile von LCC? Was ist momentan unbefriedigend erforscht? Wo und in welcher Form wird LCC angewandt? Ergeben sich aus F-1 bis F-4 spezifische Anwendungsbereiche? Zu Beginn erfolgt im Sinne der Vision des Life Cycle Thinking eine Erörterung möglicher Motivationen einer Zuwendung zu LCC aus unternehmerischer Entscheidungsperspektive. Dem folgt eine umfangreiche Analyse und Diskussion der wesentlichen Charakterzüge. Ausgehend dieser Erkenntnis ist ein Analyseraster abgeleitet um die zu bewertenden Studien geeignet zu kategorisieren. Ein direktes Ergebnis stellt die Evaluierung von 34 Studien zu LCC dar. Als mittelbare Ergebnisse der Systematisierung gelten die Erkenntnisse zur Wahl einer optimierten Suchstrategie und die Schaffung eines Startpunkts für Forscher, die sich zukünftig mit Detailfragen des LCC beschäftigen.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird der Beschaffungsprozess der MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG analysiert. Zu diesem Zweck werden drei verschiedene Methoden angewendet. Das Ziel besteht darin herauszufinden, inwieweit die Berücksichtigung ökologischer Aspekte den Entscheidungsprozess beeinflusst, sodass nachhaltige Beschaffung eine sinnvolle Option bieten kann. Dazu werden verschiedene Beschaffungsalternativen unter Verwendung der Ansätze zur Lebenszykluskostenrechnung, Ökobilanzierung und Hemmnisanalyse verglichen. Ziel ist es, Empfehlungen für zukünftige Investitionsentscheidungen abzuleiten. Die vorliegende Ausarbeitung zeigt, dass die Ausweitung der Investitionsbetrachtung auf den gesamten Lebenszyklus weit über konventionelle Ansätze hinaus gehen.

Construction of infrastructure does not only mean large capital investments but also future costs to operate and maintain these assets. Decision making in planning and design of roads will impact the need of future operation and maintenance activities. Additionally, infrastructure management is often under increasing pressure of aging structures, limited budgets and increased demands from public which require transparency in the decision making. Life cycle costing is a methodology that takes into account costs throughout an asset’s life cycle including investment, operation, maintenance and disposal. Despite the methodology’s existence for more than 40 years, the practical application is often reported to be scarce in both private and public sectors. Implementation in road planning and management means a high complexity where the life cycle costing can to be applied from early planning, design, construction and management in which all influence life cycle cost. Life cycle costing can also be applied in many different ways, level of detail and for different type of studies. For effective implementation of life cycle costing in road planning, design and management, different considerations need to be understood. In this thesis the application of life cycle costing has been studied through case study research. The main case selected was an investment to convert a single carriageway road to a, so called, sparse collision-free road. Through widening and separation between driving directions the traffic safety is significantly improved. However, in recent years increased operation and maintenance costs have been associated with the road type. Especially concerns regarding increased road user cost during road works have been expressed. This case was examined in two case studies from different perspectives. The first one was to study the implications on project appraisal and the second one examined the possibility to optimise pavement design. Results from cost benefit analyses based on established road appraisal techniques indicated that operation and maintenance related costs had limited impact on profitability. The second study also indicated that future cost can be influenced differently depending on criteria for optimal alternative. Based on economic analyses using established techniques, increased operation and maintenance liabilities appear to be of limited concern, in contrary to the perception. In future research this need to be set in context of road management with refined analysis in order to study implications for future management. / <p>QC 20141028</p>

Life cycle costing (LCC) is the state-of-the-art method to economically evaluate long-term projects over their life spans. However, uncertainty in long-range planning raises concerns about LCC results. In Part I of this series, we developed a holistic framework of the different types of uncertainty in infrastructure LCCs. We also collected methods to address these uncertainties. The aim of Part II is to evaluate the suitability of methods to cope with uncertainty in LCC. Part I addressed two research gaps. It presented a systematic collection of uncertainties and methods in LCC and, furthermore, provided a holistic categorization of both. However, Part I also raised new issues. First, a combined analysis of sources and methods is still outstanding. Such an investigation would reveal the suitability of different methods to address a certain type of uncertainty. Second, what has not been assessed so far is what types of uncertainty are insufficiently addressed in LCC. This would be a feature to improve accuracy of LCC results within LCC, by suggesting options to better cope with uncertainty. To address these research gaps, we conducted a systematic literature review. Part II analyzed the suitability of methods to address uncertainties. The suitability depends on data availability, type of data (tangible, intangible, random, non-random), screened hotspots, and tested modeling specifications. We identified types of uncertainties and methods that have been insufficiently addressed. The methods include probabilistic modeling such as design of experiment or subset simulation and evolutionary algorithm and Bayesian modeling such as the Bayesian latent Markov decision process. Subsequently, we evaluated learning potential from other life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). This analysis revealed 28 possible applications that have not yet been used in LCC. Lastly, we developed best practices for LCC practitioners. This systematic review complements prior research on uncertainty in LCC for infrastructure, as laid out in Part I. Part II concludes that all relevant methods to address uncertainty are currently applied in LCC. Yet, the level of application is different. Moreover, not all methods are equally suited to address different categories of uncertainty. This review offers guidance on what to do for each source and type of uncertainty. It illustrates how methods can address both based on current practice in LCC, LCA, and LCSA. The findings of Part II encourage a dialog between practitioners of LCC, LCA, and LCSA to advance research and practice in uncertainty analysis.

Befolkningsökningen och därmed efterfrågan på energikällor som tillhandahålls från fossila bränslen leder till allvarliga miljöproblem på grund av utsläpp av växthusgaser. En annan utmaning är att effektivt hantera organisk avfall som till exempel matavfall som genereras världen över. Matproduktionen orsakar stora miljöproblem som övergödning, klimatpåverkan, kemikaliespridning, regnskogsavverkning och utfiskning. Det är därför viktigt att matsvinnet minskar men också att effektiva metoder används för hantering av avfallet för att inte belasta miljön ytterligare.  En lösning för att hantera organiskt avfall, och samtidigt producera en förnybar energikälla är att använda anaerob rötning för att producera biogas. Vid anaerob rötning bryts organiskt material ner i en syrefri miljö, vilket resulterar i produktion av biogas som innehåller koldioxid och energirik metangas. Biprodukten som bildas är rötrest, som kan vidare användas som gödsel.  Den anaeroba rötningsprocessen har olika utmaningar där biogasprocessen kan stabiliseras och effektiviseras genom tillsats av hydrokol. Hydrokol är ett kolrikt material framställd från hydrotermisk karbonisering av biomassa. Eftersom det finns mycket begränsad forskning på kontinuerlig anaerob rötning av matavfall med tillsats av hydrokol, och ingen forskning har utförts på hydrokol som är tillverkat från skogsindustriellt avfall, så var det viktigt och av intresse att genomföra denna studie.  Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur tillsats av hydrokol påverkar biogasproduktion, metanproduktion och stabiliteten i en kontinuerlig anaerob rötningsprocess. Vidare syftar studien till att analysera effekterna av hydrokol på rötresterna som genereras, undersöka möjligheterna av sammankoppling av en befintlig rötkammare med en HTC reaktor, samt bedöma om det är ekonomiskt försvarbart att investera i hydrokol som additiv i rötningsprocessen. Målet har varit att undersöka om tillsats av hydrokol ger högre biogasutbyte, ökad metanproduktion och en stabil rötningsprocess. Målet har även varit att analysera rötresterna, utföra en materialflödesanalys över när Karlskogas rötkammare sammankopplas med en HTC reaktor, samt utföra en livscykelkostnadsanalys för att svara på om det är ekonomiskt försvarbart att investera i en HTC anläggning, alternativt att köpa in hydrokol externt.  De laborativa försöket gjordes på Karlstads universitet där rötningen var en enstegs anaerob samrötning som gjordes i två kontinuerligt matade reaktorer. Inmatning och uttag av gas gjordes en gång om dagen där försöksserierna pågick under 68 dagars tid. Substratblandningarna eftersträvades efterlikna substratförhållandena på Biogasbolaget i Karlskoga. Inmatat material, det vill säga substratblandningen utgjorde 8,5% av ensilage, 0,6% av glycerol, och 90,9% av substrat (matavfall och flytgödsel). Detta förhållande är detsamma som på Biogasbolaget. I en av reaktorerna användes substratblandningen och i den andra substratblandningen och hydrokol. Hydrokolet blandades in med substratblandningen vid en koncentration på 8g/l. Materialflödesanalysen gjordes över Karlskogas biogasanläggning där flödena ritades ut i programmet Stan 2.5. LCC gjordes utifrån två olika scenarion, om hydrokol köps in externt alternativt att en HTC-reaktor ansluts till biogasanläggningen. Det valdes att beräkna utifrån scenarion om metanutbytet ökar med 17%, enligt resultat från studien gjord av Maria Kristoffersson eller om utbytet ökar med 53% enligt resultat från den här studien.  Resultatet visar att tillsats av hydrokol som additiv ger en ökning på 59% för biogas utbytet och 53,5% för metanutbytet. I medelvärde från rötningsdag 27 till 68 så resulterade biogasproduktionen för hydrokolsreaktorn i 533 ml/g VS. Medelvärdet för referensreaktorn resulterade i 70 ml/g VS. Det här resulterar i en procentuell ökning med 663%. Eftersom misstankar finns att referensreaktorn inte bildar biogas som den ska har biogasproduktionen jämförts med tidigare studie som har gjorts på ungefär samma substratblandning och samma utrustning. Biogasproduktionen i medelvärde för referensreaktorn för (Leijen, 2016) resulterade i 335 ml/g VS. Procentuella skillnaden i biogasproduktion resulterar då i 59% mellan referensreaktorn och hydrokolsreaktorn. Metanproduktionen i hydrokolsreaktorn resulterade i medelvärde till 367 ml/g VS, i referensreaktorn till 18 ml/g VS och i referensreaktorn i Leijens studie till 237 ml/g VS. Jämfört med Leijens resultat resulterade den procentuella ökningen i metangasproduktion till 53,5%. En stabil rötningsprocess bekräftades genom att pH på rötresterna resulterade i 7,66 under hela rötningsprocessen.  Det är möjligt att sammankoppla Karlskogas befintliga anläggning med en HTC-anläggning och återföra rötresterna för hydrokolsproduktion. Rötresterna med ett högre kol-och näringsinnehåll kan återanvändas och recirkuleras för produktion av hydrokol. Av 10 tonTS/dag rötrester som kommer ut från rötningskammaren kommer 2,46 tonTS/dag att recirkuleras för hydrokolsproduktion. Resten av rötresterna kan användas vidare som gödsel.  Det är ekonomiskt försvarbart att investera i hydrokol som additiv till rötningsprocessen. Genom att bygga en HTC-anläggning, där tillsatsen av hydrokol kan ge 17% respektive 53% högre metanproduktion resulterar nettovinsten i 363 miljoner respektive 1237 miljoner kr över en 20-årsperiod. Alternativet är att köpa in hydrokol externt, där nettovinsten uppgår till 177 miljoner respektive 1052 miljoner kr över samma tidsperiod. Livscykelkostnadsanalysen visar att det är ekonomiskt mer fördelaktigt att investera i en HTC-anläggning jämfört med att köpa hydrokol externt. / The population growth and thus the demand for energy sources provided by fossil fuels leads to serious environmental problems due to greenhouse gas emissions. Another challenge is to effectively manage organic waste such as food waste generated worldwide. Food production causes major environmental problems such as eutrophication, climate impact, chemical dispersion, rainforest deforestation and depletion. It is therefore important that food waste is reduced, but also that effective methods are used to manage the waste so as not to burden the environment further.  One solution for managing organic waste, while producing a renewable energy source, is to use anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. In anaerobic digestion, organic material is broken down in an oxygen-free environment, resulting in the production of biogas containing carbon dioxide and energy-rich methane gas. The by-product formed is digestate, which can be further used as fertilizer.  The anaerobic digestion process has various challenges, where the biogas process can be stabilized and made more efficient by adding hydrochar. Hydrochar is a carbon-rich material produced from hydrothermal carbonization of biomass. Since there is very limited research on continuous anaerobic digestion of food waste with the addition of hydrochar, and no research has been conducted on hydrochar produced from forest industry biosludge, it was important and of interest to conduct this study.  The aim of the study is to investigate how the addition of hydrochar affects biogas production, methane production and the stability of a continuous anaerobic digestion process. Furthermore, the study aims to analyze the effects of hydrochar on the digestate generated, investigate the possibilities of connecting an existing digester with an HTC reactor, and assess whether it is economically justifiable to invest in hydrochar as an additive in the digestion process. The goal has been to investigate whether the addition of hydrochar provides higher biogas yield, increased methane production and a stable digestion process. The goal has also been to analyze the digestate, perform a material flow analysis of when Karlskoga's digester is connected to an HTC reactor, and perform a life cycle cost analysis to answer whether it is economically justifiable to invest in an HTC plant, or to purchase hydrochar externally.  The laboratory experiments were carried out at Karlstad University where the digestion was a single-stage anaerobic co-digestion in two continuously fed reactors. Gas was fed and withdrawn once a day and the experimental series lasted for 68 days. The substrate mixtures sought to mimic the substrate conditions at Biogasbolaget in Karlskoga. Input material, i.e. the substrate mixture consisted of 8.5% silage, 0.6% glycerol, and 90.9% substrate (food waste and liquid manure). This ratio is the same as at Biogasbolaget. One of the reactors used the substrate mixture and the other used the substrate mixture and hydrochar. The hydrochar was mixed with the substrate mixture at a concentration of 8g/l. The material flow analysis was made over Karlskoga's biogas plant where the flows were drawn in the program Stan 2.5. LCC was made based on two different scenarios, if hydrochar is purchased externally or if an HTC reactor is connected to the biogas plant. It was chosen to calculate based on scenarios if the methane yield increases by 17%, according to results from the study made by Maria Kristoffersson or if the yield increases by 53% according to results from this study.  The results show that adding hydrochar as an additive gives an increase of 59% for the biogas yield and 53.5% for the methane yield. In average from digestion day 27 to 68, the biogas production for the hydrochar reactor resulted in 533 ml/g VS. The average value for the reference reactor resulted in 70 ml/g VS. This results in a percentage increase of 663%. Since there are suspicions that the reference reactor does not produce biogas as it should, the biogas production has been compared with previous studies that have been done on approximately the same substrate mixture and the same equipment. The biogas production in average for the reference reactor for (Leijen, 2016) resulted in 335 ml/g VS. The percentage difference in biogas production then results in 59% between the reference reactor and the hydrochar reactor. The methane production in the hydrochar reactor resulted on average to 367 ml/g VS, in the reference reactor to 18 ml/g VS and in the reference reactor in Leijen's study to 237 ml/g VS. Compared to Leijen's results, the percentage increase in methane gas production resulted in 53.5%. A stable digestion process was confirmed by the fact that the pH of the digestate resulted in 7.66 during the whole digestion process.  It is possible to interconnect the existing Karlskoga plant with an HTC plant and recycle the digestate for hydrochar production. The digestate with a higher carbon and nutrient content can be reused and recycled for hydrochar production. Out of 10 tonTS/day of digestate coming out of the digestion chamber, 2.46 tonTS/day will be recycled for hydrochar production. The rest of the digestate can be further used as fertilizer.  It is economically justifiable to invest in hydrochar as an additive to the digestion process. By building a HTC plant, where the addition of hydrochar can provide 17% and 53% higher methane production, the net profit results in 363 million and 1237 million SEK over a 20-year period. The alternative is to purchase hydrochar externally, where the net benefit amounts to SEK 177 million and 1052 million respectively over the same time period. The life cycle cost analysis shows that it is economically more advantageous to invest in an HTC plant compared to buying hydrochar externally.

<p>Many cities around the world struggle with the presence of vacant and underutilized land in the urban environment. There is growing momentum across many municipal jurisdictions in North America to reuse public and privately held vacant and underutilized urban land on a temporary to potentially permanent basis for community-based projects; however, there are limited community-based tools available to assess the suitability of vacant land for potential reuse.</p> <p>This thesis presents three papers (Chapters 2-4) that describe the development and application of a prototype community-based decision support tool (PDSS), developed in Microsoft ExcelÒ. The PDSS provides a methodology for evaluating up to fifteen community-based reuse strategies across three green infrastructure categories: parks, urban food production, and stormwater/ecosystems management. The PDSS aids in deriving community-focused goals, objectives and solutions for the efficient reuse of vacant and underutilized land.</p> <p>The PDSS includes a vacant and underutilized land inventory for identifying and inventorying the physical and spatial attributes (i.e. location and condition) of vacant and underutilized land across the urban environment (VULI); a methodology for quantifying the suitability of vacant land for a suite of reuse strategies (SSI); a multi-objective, binary-integer programming formulation for the allocation of reuse strategies across the urban environment (LOCAL), and a tool for municipal green infrastructure investment decision-making (DECO).</p> <p>The information derived from VULI and SSI can be used by community groups to help articulate the inherent potential of these spaces for future reuse. If this methodology was adopted at the municipal level, the prototype tool has the potential to expedite applications to reuse city-owned lands on a temporary basis. LOCAL provides a methodology to facilitate the allocation of multiple reuse strategies to a single parcel, to achieve a mix of green infrastructure uses at each site, and provides users with the ability to readily generate “what-if” scenarios based on user-specified allocation constraints. DECO can be utilized to design and investigate material alternatives, maintenance schedules, and different cost regimes, which can be useful for construction and long-term preventative maintenance decision-making. Finally, the results of a tree growth-stormwater attenuation modeling exercise are presented (Chapter 5). The methodology and results presented aid in articulating the stormwater attenuating benefits of trees that are planted on a temporary basis on vacant land.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Nigeria economy is wholly dependent on revenue from oil. However, bitumen has been discovered in the country since 1903 and has remained untapped over the years. The need for the country to complement oil exploration with the huge bitumen deposit cannot be overemphasized. This will help to improve the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and revenue available to government. Bitumen is classifled as heavy crude with API (American petroleum Institute) number ranging between 50 and 110 and occurs in Nigeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela etc from which petroleum products could be derived. This dissertation looked at the Canadian experience by comparing the oil and tar sand deposit found in Canada with particular reference to Athabasca (Grosmont, Wabiskaw McMurray and Nsiku) with that in Nigeria with a view of transferring process technology from Canada to Nigeria. The Nigeria and Athabasca tar sands occur in the same type of environment. These are the deltaic, fluvial marine deposit in an incised valley with similar reservoir, chemical and physical properties. However, the Nigeria tar sand is more asphaltenic and also contains more resin and as such will yield more product volume during hydro cracking albeit more acidic. The differences in the components (viscosity, resin and asphaltenes contents, sulphur and heavy metal contents) of the tar sands is within the limit of technology adaptation. Any of the technologies used in Athabasca, Canada is adaptable to Nigeria according to the findings of this research. The techno-economics of some of the process technologies are. x-rayed using the PTAC (petroleum technology alliance Canada) technology recovery model in order to obtain their unit cost for Nigeria bitumen. The unit cost of processed bitumen adopting steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in situ combustion (ISC) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process technology is 40.59, 25.00 and 44.14 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Canada using the same process technology is 57.27, 25.00 and 61.33 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Nigeria is substantively lesser than in Canada. A trade off is thereafter done using life cycle costing so as to select the best process technology for the Nigeria oil/tar sands. The net present value/internal rate of return is found to be B$3,062/36.35% for steam assisted gravity drainage, B$I,570124.51 % for cyclic steam stimulation and B$3,503/39.64% for in situ combustion. Though in situ combustion returned the highest net present value and internal rate of return, it proved not to be the best option for Nigeria due to environmental concern and response time to production. The best viable option for the Nigeria tar sand was then deemed to be steam assisted gravity drainage. An integrated oil strategy coupled with cogeneration using MSAR was also seen to considerably amplify the benefits accruable from bitumen exploration; therefore, an investment in bitumen exploration in Nigeria is a wise economic decision. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.

The Nigeria economy is wholly dependent on revenue from oil. However, bitumen has been discovered in the country since 1903 and has remained untapped over the years. The need for the country to complement oil exploration with the huge bitumen deposit cannot be overemphasized. This will help to improve the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and revenue available to government. Bitumen is classifled as heavy crude with API (American petroleum Institute) number ranging between 50 and 110 and occurs in Nigeria, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela etc from which petroleum products could be derived. This dissertation looked at the Canadian experience by comparing the oil and tar sand deposit found in Canada with particular reference to Athabasca (Grosmont, Wabiskaw McMurray and Nsiku) with that in Nigeria with a view of transferring process technology from Canada to Nigeria. The Nigeria and Athabasca tar sands occur in the same type of environment. These are the deltaic, fluvial marine deposit in an incised valley with similar reservoir, chemical and physical properties. However, the Nigeria tar sand is more asphaltenic and also contains more resin and as such will yield more product volume during hydro cracking albeit more acidic. The differences in the components (viscosity, resin and asphaltenes contents, sulphur and heavy metal contents) of the tar sands is within the limit of technology adaptation. Any of the technologies used in Athabasca, Canada is adaptable to Nigeria according to the findings of this research. The techno-economics of some of the process technologies are. x-rayed using the PTAC (petroleum technology alliance Canada) technology recovery model in order to obtain their unit cost for Nigeria bitumen. The unit cost of processed bitumen adopting steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), in situ combustion (ISC) and cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process technology is 40.59, 25.00 and 44.14 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Canada using the same process technology is 57.27, 25.00 and 61.33 Canadian dollars respectively. The unit cost in Nigeria is substantively lesser than in Canada. A trade off is thereafter done using life cycle costing so as to select the best process technology for the Nigeria oil/tar sands. The net present value/internal rate of return is found to be B$3,062/36.35% for steam assisted gravity drainage, B$I,570124.51 % for cyclic steam stimulation and B$3,503/39.64% for in situ combustion. Though in situ combustion returned the highest net present value and internal rate of return, it proved not to be the best option for Nigeria due to environmental concern and response time to production. The best viable option for the Nigeria tar sand was then deemed to be steam assisted gravity drainage. An integrated oil strategy coupled with cogeneration using MSAR was also seen to considerably amplify the benefits accruable from bitumen exploration; therefore, an investment in bitumen exploration in Nigeria is a wise economic decision. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Development and Management))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.