Flue Gas, Greenhouse Gases, & EOR

Jim Myers, MPE Flue Gas, Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s), and EOR, 2009-09-07 of 16

EPRS Energy Co. Inc. Oklahoma City, OK405-401-9426

Flue Gas, Greenhouse Gases, & EORTable of Contents

ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................... 1EOR AND CO2 SEQUESTRATION ......................................................................... 2FLUE GAS COMPOSITION ..................................................................................... 3FLUE GAS PROCESSING ....................................................................................... 3FIGURE 1. US MAP OF FLUE GAS LOCATIONS ..................................................... 4PROCESSING FLUE GAS NOX................................................................................ 4PROCESSING FLUE GAS SO2 ................................................................................ 5PROCESSING FLUE GAS MERCURY, HG ................................................................ 5EOR, GHGS, AND NITROGEN PROCESSING ......................................................... 6FIGURE 2. US MAP OF LOCATIONS FOR GEOLOGICAL CO2 SEQUESTRATION ........ 7CO-OPTIMIZATION FAILURE ................................................................................. 8CO-OPTIMIZATION SUCCESSES ............................................................................. 8BITUMEN GASIFICATION.....................................................................................10CO-OPTIMIZING EOR AND REFINING ..................................................................10LONG LAKE STATISTICS .....................................................................................12A CO-OPTIMIZED PIPELINE FOR EOR..................................................................12SUMMARY..........................................................................................................14APPENDIX: NITROUS OXIDE EMISSIONS .............................................................15

AbstractCo-optimization of greenhouse gas (GHG) sequestration (GHGS) with enhanced oilrecovery (EOR) using CO2 seems an obvious opportunity, especially in the senses ofengineering design challenge and scientific investigation. Processing flue gases frompower plants seems compatible with EOR.The actual nature of typical flue gases raises several difficult issues, however. Cementplants, steel mills, and aluminum smelters are often much larger targets than powerplants, however, and will probably provide economy of scale to improve co-generationand scrubbing economics.Nitrogen and nitrogen compound concentration in flue gases are very negative factors forEOR. Here is a brief primer on flue gas composition and processing. Then some issuesof flue gases’ suitability for EOR are briefly addressed. Some examples of successful co-optimizations and also failures are presented. Finally, excellent new examples ofintegrated GHGS designs for EOR serve to provide engineering, scientific, and civicexcitement.A perspective on the problem of nitrous oxide emissions is provided in the Appendix.


EOR and CO2 SequestrationNew opportunities for environmental remediation, increased oil production, and jobcreation are emerging due to recently identified global and US priorities to reduceemission of greenhouse gases (GHQ’s) into the atmosphere. Naturally, CO2 withheldfrom such release must be impounded (sequestered) somewhere.The mature and successful enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique of miscibledisplacement relies primarily on programs to inject CO2 into oil reservoirs as a “solvent”to mix and dissolve with reservoir oil, including additional injection of various grades ofwater for reservoir fluid mobility control. There is a growing inventory of existing CO2sequestration (CO2-S) EOR (CO2-S-EOR) projects, and an expanding volume of relatedliterature on screening for and co-optimization of new CO2-S-EOR opportunities.Energy and environmental agencies have strong interest in co-optimization of EOR bygas injection and greenhouse gas sequestration (EOR-GHGS) by disposal of CO2, CO,oxides of nitrogen, H2S, SO2, etc., as exist in flue gases and especially in output of oil andgas processing plants. There are enough EOR-GHGS examples around the world(Algeria, Australia, Canada, Norway, etc.) in operation or post-proposal stages to helpinvestigators and designers avoid previous wrong turns in planning. Two prominentCanadian projects are the widely publicized Encana Weyburn Pilot Project inSaskatchewan and the Zama oil field in Alberta.The Zama Field project injects both CO2 and H2S from its nearby processing plant intothe top of a Devonian pinnacle reef. Oil is produced from a completion near the reefbottom, making this project somewhat gravity-stable. A shallower well serves to monitorleakage of these “acid gases.”These projects also use the term “carbon sequestration.” E&P companies are prepared toseek industrial sources of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (especially output from gasprocessing plants which scavenge these gases from crude oil and/or natural gas, andperhaps flue gases from power stations), and to formulate plans to sequester theseundesirable emissions underground.So, actual feasibility of co-optimizing EOR, especially the gas-injection processes ofimmiscible and miscible displacements, is a crucial issue to be questioned in everyrealistic sense. Characterization of flue gas compositions, especially flue gases from the gas-fired and coal-

fired power plants which dominate the US power utility industry. Can flue gases bedirectly injected into oil reservoirs for these EOR processes?

If processing is required to prepare flue gases for EOR injection, what are the nature, scale,and expense of these processes? Will existing flue gas processing methods be adequate,or must additional techniques be researched?

CO2 is NOT the only greenhouse gas: nitrogen oxides, NOX, are considered MUCHmore hazardous, for example. Unprocessed flue gases are seldom good candidates forEOR by gas injection due to their very high (78-80%) atmospheric nitrogen (N2)content.


Flue Gas CompositionFuel Choices & OSHA:Chemical Species

OSHA TWA*ceiling, ppm

NaturalGas

Fuel Oil Coal

Nitrogen, N2 78-80% 78-80% 78-80%Carbon dioxide, CO2 5000 10 – 12% 12-14%Oxygen, O2 2-3% 2-6% 7%Carbon monoxide (CO) 50 70-110ppm 70-160ppmNitrogen oxides (NOx) NO-25, NO2-5* 50-70ppm 50-110ppm 1%Ammonia, NH3 50 Used in removal of NOx.Sulphur dioxide (SO2) H2S-20*, SO2-5 180-250ppm >2,000ppmHydrocarbons (CXHY) <60ppmMercury, Hg >200lb/year/plantFly Ash none minimal 12%Table. Summary of flue gas composition ranges for power plants fueled by gas, oil andcoal. Given these inconvenient contaminants it is no surprise that EOR by flue gas injectionhas been discontinued, sometimes converted to nitrogen injection, in most projects whichattempted that EOR implementation. OSHA’s TWA limits are allowed for 8-hour personnelshifts. OSHA’s Ceiling limits should not be exceeded at any time for personnel.

Flue Gas ProcessingAn example of flue gas processing sequence is: While flue gas is still hot, incineration under controlled temperature and pressure in a

chamber, which may include a catalyst system, perhaps injecting a reagent, can producerequired chemical reactions. Incineration reaction results depend on composition,temperature, pressure, catalysis, and residence time for which these conditions apply.

Co-generation heat exchangers can scavenge heat from this hot gas and provide cooling. Sorbents like activated carbon, lime, or sodium salts, can be injected to adsorb mercury or

SO2 gases. Electrostatic precipitators (ESP’s), wet or dry, can capture particulates like sorbents, fly ash,

or soot, in a wide range of temperatures. These devices have been adapted to “ionic”household air cleaners.

Wet scrubbers can accept high-temperature moist flue gas to remove particulates and/orgaseous contaminants.

Dry scrubbers (cooling followed by carbon, lime or sodium reagent injection, and fabric“baghouse” filter) can remove particulates.

Carbon monoxide, CO, is a colorless, odorless gas that is tasteless and non-irritant. It issomewhat less dense than air and, although it is a product of imperfect combustion, it isinflammable. Carbon monoxide, like oxygen, has an affinity for iron-containingmolecules, and it is about 210 times more effective than oxygen in binding to the iron-rich hemoglobin in human blood; thus arises its tragic toxicity so often demonstrated inaccidents and suicides. Blast furnace gas contains 25% carbon monoxide. Coal gas,which was used as a fuel in Europe up until North Sea (natural) gas became plentiful,contains 16% CO.


Figure 1. US Map of Flue Gas Locationshttp://energy.er.usgs.gov/health_environment/co2_sequestration/co2_illustrations.html

Characteristics of power plant emissions:USEPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2002, eGRID 2.01. Available online at:http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-resources/egrid/index.html

Processing Flue Gas NOx

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) occur in all fossil fuel combustion, through oxidation ofatmospheric nitrogen (N2) and also from organic nitrogen fuel content, and flue gas NOxconcentrations are enhanced by high combustion chamber temperatures. Nitric oxide(NO) oxidizes with time and forms nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a brown, toxic, water-solublegas that can seriously damage the lungs, contributes to acid rain and helps to form ozone.With or without Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), ammonia (NH3) ions react withboth species:4NH3 + 6NO 5N2 + 6H2O,8NH3 + 6NO2 7N2 + 12H2O.Use of ammonia in NOx reduction technologies or for flue gas conditioning can have asubstantial balance-of-plant impact on coal-fired plants. Ammonia adsorbs on fly ashwithin the flue gas processing system as both free ammonia and ammonium sulfate


compounds, however.This ammonia can then desorb during subsequent transport, disposal, or use of the flyash. This desorption of ammonia presents several technical and environmental concernsas fly ash disposal occurs in surface water and landfills. SCR can optimize the NH3-NOxreduction with a minimum of downstream problems developed by ammonia slip.Since nitrogen oxide emissions are dominated by agricultural fertilizer use, however, theymay not be valid sequestration or removal targets for flue gases. Nitrous oxide, N2O, isconsidered an especially hazardous input to the worldwide stratospheric ozone layer. Seethe Appendix on agricultural nitrous oxide emissions.

Processing Flue Gas SO2

Almost all hydrogen sulfide, H2S (OSHA “ceiling” = 20ppm), oxidizes within a day toSO2. SO2 is smelly, toxic, and contributes to acid rain. SOX can be removed from fluegas by dry alkaline adsorption before particulate removal.Addition of sodium bicarbonate into the flue gas causes it to react in the followingmanner:2NaHCO3 Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2.This allows for the sodium carbonate to react with the oxygen and sulfur dioxide in theflue gas to form sodium sulfate and carbon dioxide as follows:Na2CO3 + SO2 + 0.5CO2 Na2SO4 + CO2.With the creation of solid sodium sulfate, the desulfurization of the gas is complete,awaiting capture of solid sodium sulfate particles.In wet limestone scrubbing after particulate removal, limestone slurry in water comesinto contact with the flue gasSO2 + CaCO3 + H2O CaSO3 + H2O + CO2.This calcium sulfite (CaSO3) is then oxidized to form calcium sulfate, CaSO4, gypsum.Contaminants in “sheet rock” made from recycled gypsum are suspect householdenvironmental hazards.

Processing Flue Gas Mercury, HgSince the average mid-sized coal-fired plant releases at least 200-300 pounds of mercuryper year, and mercury pollution has immense environmental impact, mercury emissioncontrol is receiving large “doses” of money and professional attention, and benefits fromspecialized industry knowledge. Oxidized mercury, Hg2+, and Hg bound to particles areeasily removed with ESP’s or wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD); removal of freeelemental mercury is more challenging.Technologies that impact mercury speciation include most existing air pollution controlmethods: Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) mercury oxidation is gaining emphasisfor mercury removal, since it is often already used to remove NOx; sorbent injection, dry


scrubbers, dry and wet ESP's, and wet scrubbers are oldest and most commonlyemployed methods.The accepted existing activated carbon mercury sorbent process is that it takes many,many times more pounds of carbon per pound of mercury removed. Since the averagemid-sized plant releases at least 200-300 pounds of mercury per year, it equates toanywhere from four hundred thousand to almost four and one half millions pounds ofinjected carbon needed per year. Once polluted with mercury and captured, this carbon isuseless, cannot be recycled, and must sit in a landfill.ADA’s patented Mercu-RE process has been introduced to provide a sorbent that can bedetached after capture to yield elemental mercury for resale.The Cloric acid laboratory process produces HgOCl:Hg + HClO3 HgOCl + H2O,and can also be used to oxidize NOX pollutants, and those can then pass through thesystem as nitrogen gas, without the problem of ammonia slip contaminating fly ash.http://www.wshinton.com/

EOR, GHGS, and Nitrogen ProcessingUS Federal agencies DOE, DOI (especially USGS), and EPA are showing strong interestin co-optimization of EOR by gas injection and greenhouse gas sequestration (GHGS)for disposal of COX, NOX, H2S, SO2, CXHY, etc. There are enough EOR-GHGSexamples around the world (Algeria, Australia, Canada, Norway, etc.) in operation orpost-proposal stages to help researchers, planners, and developers avoid previous wrongturns in planning.Regarding power stations, separation of greenhouse gases from N2 in flue gases seems adominant problem, since N2 injection is only favorable for gravity-stable EORdisplacement of light oils (API Gravity > 30°) at depths beyond the common range of oilreservoir depths. So, most US oil fields would be eliminated “out” of screeningprocesses for injection of raw flue gas.A possible example that might screen “in,” regarding depth, reservoir pressure, andtemperature, is the Hawk Point Field of Campbell County, WY, a complex Permian-Pennsylvanian Minnelusa interbedding of with eolian sands. Naturally, such a complexreservoir has large variations in vertical permeability, flow barriers, and is generally veryheterogeneous. Its reservoir has thickness 50’, porosity 12%, and permeability 60mDreported.Hawk Point reservoir depth is 11,500’, with 260°F Temperature and 4,472psi initialpressure. Providing its crude oil contents are light enough (API Gravity > 30°) andtemperature is not too high (increases oil viscosity), Hawk Point a good candidate tofurther screen for a pilot project to investigate EOR using injection of nitrogen or fluegas. On primary production in 1986 and waterflood in 1989, in 2001 Hawk Point Fieldwas already a candidate for abandonment due to economic limit.


Figure 2. US Map of Locations for Geological CO2 Sequestrationhttp://energy.er.usgs.gov/health_environment/co2_sequestration/co2_illustrations.html

Oil and gas field classifications:NRG Associates, 2001, The significant oil and gas fields of the United States: NRG Associates,Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo., [includes data current as of May 23, 2001—database availablefrom NRG Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1655, Colorado Springs, CO 80901].

USGS: CO2 sequestration “Based on current projections, the United States faces theneed to increase its electrical power generating capacity by 40% over the next 20 yearsand its total energy consumption by 24% by the year 2030. Fossil fuel usage, a majorsource of carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, will continue to provide thedominant portion of total energy in both industrialized and developing countries.Overall reduction of carbon dioxide emissions will likely involve some combination oftechniques, but for the immediate future, sequestration of carbon dioxide in geologicalreservoirs seems especially promising, as existing knowledge derived from the oil andgas production industries has already helped to solve some of the technologicalobstacles. The USGS has been studying geologic options for storing CO2 in depletedoil and gas reservoirs, deep coal seams, and brine formations.”http://energy.er.usgs.gov/health_environment/co2_sequestration/


Co-optimization FailureThe deepest oil reservoirs are generally shallower than 20,000 feet. The Semitropic Fieldin California produced oil from an interval between 17,610-18,060 feet. Heat levels atthose depths eventually "cook" the oil, converting it to natural gas.Mexico’s Cantarell Field is considered the world’s biggest N2-injection project,producing 500,000 BO/D incremental in recent reports. Bechtel/IPSI’s 2001 designreport explores all the problems with flue gas injection and several other processes,culminating in the choice of N2 injection to provide pressure maintenance, immiscibledisplacement, and increased production in the huge Cantarell project. That report all buteliminates the practical potential for flue gases as EOR solvents.The extensive contamination of flue gases, reported in Table above, makes theirprocessing to eliminate N2 a chemical engineering design nirvana, but a maintenanceinfinite nightmare. GHG contaminants in flue gas, including COX, NOX, and sulfurcompounds, are associated with corrosion and/or toxicity. In the “solvent” gas injectionEOR processes they would not be processed once; they would be processed indefinitelyin cycles for the life of the project.www.ipsi.com/Tech_papers/cantarell2.pdf

Co-optimization SuccessesWhile treatment of flue gas from power generation plants to produce CO2 for injection inEOR projects is theoretically feasible, typical contamination by nitrogen and sulfurcompounds limits its practicality. Flue gases from coal-fired plants also contain metals.Necessity to cool, separate, and compress these flue gases adds additional economic andoperational challenges. Other sources are emerging, however, and successful EOR-GHGS co-optimization projects are on the horizon.The oldest and best-known of these is Encana’s and Apache’s Weyburn-Midale CO2Project. Neither these projects nor Apache’s Zama project rely upon gas sources with thetypical composition problems summarized above. The Weyburn-Midale project’s CO2 istransported via pipeline from the Dakota Gasification Company’s Great Plains Synfuelsplant’s coal-based generating plant at the Beula, ND.The Great Plains Synfuels plant design features world class design sophistication. Thedesign includes reaction components yielding sales of liquid nitrogen, krypton, andzenon, solid ammonium sulfate, and phenol and cresylic acid liquids.Enhance Energy Inc. has entered into long term CO2 Supply agreements with bothAgrium Inc. and North West Upgrading Inc. The supply of CO2 will be used in EORprojects under development by Enhance Energy, including joint ventures with FairborneEnergy Ltd. Both Agrium and NWU CO2 supplies are high purity streams that are idealfor EOR projects like Rowley field and the two Clive fields.Unlike flue gases from power generation from fossil fuels, the outputs from the fertilizerplant and bitumen refinery benefit from:


No reliance upon fossil fuel combustion with atmospheric air with its N2 concentration ofabout 80%. Thus the NOX fraction is not fundamentally inevitable. Of course Agrium retainsthe Nitrogen fraction to produce that vital fertilizer component.

Highly controlled and engineered specific chemical reactions take place in high-pressurereactor vessels. These controlled closed systems provide reaction control for vitallypredictable reactions, results, and exhaust compositions.

At least one of these installations was designed with generation of pure CO2 and/orhydrogen among its primary design priorities.

Figure 3. Schematic process design for Dakota Gasification Company’s Great Plains Synfuelsplant’s coal-based generating plant at the Beula, ND, which provides the high-grade CO2 supplyfor the Weyburn-Midale Project operated by Apache and Encana in Saskatchewan.

Alberta’s Agrium is a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in Northand South America. A leading global wholesale producer and marketer of all three majoragricultural nutrients, Agrium is a leading specialty fertilizer supplier in North America.North West Upgrading (NWU) of Alberta, a bitumen refiner committed to environmentaland practical sustainability, has chosen a gasification process for new their bitumenrefinery.http://www.ptrc.ca/weyburn_overview.phphttp://www.apachecorp.com/Operations/Canada/Stewardship/EOR.aspxhttp://www.encana.com/operations/oil/weyburn/http://www.enhanceenergy.comhttp://www.northwestupgrading.comhttp://agrium.com/http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/carbon_seq/core_rd/mva/41149.html


Bitumen GasificationThe huge molecules typical in a heavy oil or bitumen place ultimate refining emphasis onconverting the large molecules into the smaller molecules of many marketable products.As an example of older bitumen refining processes, at the Syncrude ventures extractedbitumen is fed into a vacuum distillation tower and three cokers (thermal hydrocrackers)for primary upgrading. The resulting products are then separated into naphtha, light gas-oil, and heavy gas-oil streams. These streams are hydrotreated to remove sulfur andnitrogen impurities to form light, sweet, synthetic crude oil (32° API). Sulfur and coke(solid bitumen residue) are by-products.Like Syncrude’s bitumen extraction by mining, that 1975 refining process becameoperational in 1978, and is somewhere between ancient and modern. A major innovationhas been added, however, to provide improved options for refining of heavy oils andbitumens -- gasification.Gasification allows efficient elimination of environmental waste product problems, suchas coke, sulfur compounds and metals, and significant reduction in consumption ofnatural gas and water resources. The entire process happens within in a reactor, makingit possible to capture all of the CO2, virtually pure, before it is released into theatmosphere.Alberta-based North West Upgrading has chosen this new option, and reports theseadvantages for their choice of a gasification process for their new bitumen refinery: Itwill be fully operational in 2013. Recover sulfur and sell it to the market Produce critically needed ultra low sulfur diesel Eliminate coke and ashphaltenes as a disposal problem Eliminate the use of natural gas as a feedstock for hydrogen Recycle high quality diluent for transportation of heavy oil to customers Significant quantities of hydrogen for upgrading, refining and petrochemicals Recovery of heavy metals from the bitumen feedstock which would otherwise be lost

economically and become potential environmental problems, Carbon capture and storage solution: production of pure CO2, ideal for EOR in nearby

reservoirs of much lighter grades of crude oil.http://www.northwestupgrading.comhttp://www.gasification.org/

Co-optimizing EOR and RefiningLong Lake is the first of these integrated oil sands projects to combine Steam AssistedGravity Drainage (SAGD) with the proprietary OrCrude™ technology of OPTI Canada,hydrocracking, and gasification, to produce a premium synthetic crude oil (syncrude).The input bitumen has API gravity less than 10° and is sour; Long Lake’s syncrude


output is sweet and light, with gravity API gravity of 39°, low nitrogen, and superiorqualities.

Figure 4. Nexen and OPTI’s Long Lake facility is one of the World’s most sophisticated andthoughtful designs, combining proprietary Or-Crude processing technology, further refining bygasification to produce hydrogen for hydrocracking and syngas for SAGD, diluent manufactureand recycling, sulfur recovery, and producing a premium synthetic crude oil suitable for furtherrefining to produce valuable fuels, solvents, and lubricants.

The co-optimized Long Lake system addresses problems of SAGD bitumen productionand bitumen processing: recovery of bitumen sulfur content disposal or marketing of solid bitumen residue (coke) high cost of natural gas to generate steam, power pumps, fuel refining equipment, and

produce hydrogen cost and availability of diluent, which is manufactured and recycled in OrCrude™ process, ultimate cost of recovering, transporting, refining, marketing, and delivering bitumen and

byproducts.This energy-efficient technology uses A-fuel to produce the synthetic fuel gas (syngas)required to supply the commercial SAGD operation, a cogeneration facility and theUpgrader, as well as hydrogen to feed the hydrocracker. The gas is also burned in acogeneration plant to produce electricity for on-site use and sold to the provincialelectricity grid.


After treating, diluted bitumen is fed into the Upgrader, consisting of a proprietaryOrCrude™ unit, a gasifier, and a hydrocracker. The patented OrCrude™ carbon-rejection technology uses conventional distillation, solvent de-asphalting and thermalcracking to recycle diluent, removes heavy components (asphaltene residue, or “A-fuel”)and upgrades the remaining content. Remaining content is upgraded by hydrocracking tosyncrude. A-fuel is gasified to the synthetic fuel gas (syngas) to generate steam,electricity, and hydrogen for the hydrocracker.Conventional stand-alone SAGD operations purchase natural gas, typically their largestcost, to generate steam for their wells. Similarly, many upgraders purchase natural gas toform hydrogen.

Long Lake StatisticsThe Long Lake Upgrader’s energy conversion efficiency is about 90%, compared to 75%for a typical bitumen-fed coker, providing about $10/bbl operating cost advantage. ThusNexen produces its syncrude from Long Lake bitumen at the industry’s lowest operatingcost.Nexen estimates combined SAGD, cogeneration and upgrading operating costs areexpected to average about $22/bbl, substantially lower than coking or other upgradingprocesses as a result of the reduced need to purchase natural gas. Nexen expects ongoingcapital to average between $5/bbl and $10/bbl depending on well spacing, welldepth/length and recovery factor.Phase 1 development includes approximately 70,000 barrels per day (b/d) of bitumenproduction from 81 SAGD well pairs. Recovered bitumen will be converted intoapproximately 60,000 b/d of premium syncrude and the products mentioned via onsiteupgrading. Regulatory approvals are in place for an additional 140,000 b/d of bitumenextraction and 70,000 b/d of upgrading capacity.A Flash-animated diagram of Nexen’s 2001 Alberta Long Lake bitumen gasificationrefinery Steam and integrated Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) project is viewable athttp://www.longlake.ca/project/bitumen.html orhttp://www.longlake.ca/project/bitumen.swf.

A Co-optimized Pipeline for EOREnhance Energy’s Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL) will gather CO2 from sources inthe Alberta’s Industrial Heartland region and transport the CO2 to existing mature oilfields throughout south-central Alberta. These oilfields will see significant increases inproduction, as CO2 is permanently stored in the reservoir.This capture and permanent storage of CO2 will result in significant reductions inemissions of greenhouse gases in Alberta. The initial supply of CO2 will come fromWest Upgrading Inc. and Agrium Inc, at the pipeline’s North end, North of Edmonton inAlberta’s Heartland Industrial Region. Drying and compression units located on those


sites will prepare the CO2 for transportation.Agrium is a major international manufacturer of fertilizers. NWU processes Athabascabitumen by a gasification process mentioned in the Bitumen Gasification section below.ACTL will have a design capacity of 40,000 tonnes per day with initial throughputplanned at 5,000 tonnes per day. In the initial phase, the pipeline project will have thesame impact as taking 330,000 cars off the road. This effect will expand to becomeequivalent to 2,600,000 cars at full capacity. ACTL will provide environmental benefitsfor Alberta and globally.http://www.enhanceenergy.com/


SummaryWithout extensive treatment of flue gases, EOR and GHGS from power plants will notco-optimize except in exceptional and infrequent applications. GHGS of flue gasesshould then be directed toward storage in less valuable reservoirs, like depleted naturalgas reservoirs, gas-depleted low-grade coal beds and coal beds too thin or deep formining, etc.EOR-GHGS co-optimization using more highly engineered sources is mentioned above,in the Co-optimization Success section. CO2 sources are a fertilizer plant and a bitumenrefinery. Those projects are practical, and will be online in the very near futureEPRS will continue to investigate greenhouse gas processing and storage, includingcarbon capture by CO2 sequestration, using current research and operating results. EPRSis prepared to seek DOE, EPA, and/or DOI grants to cast light on scientific and logisticalproblems that obstruct long-term international and US goals. Commercial co-optimization with EOR needs pilot projects.Some pilot projects for EOR-GHGS co-optimization would be helpful for research anddemonstration purposes, however. Just west of Hobbs, NM, are Xcel’s Maddox andCunningham gas-fired power stations, for example. Their minor flue gas outputs couldbe combined for processing, and there are small oil fields nearby perfect for EOR pilotprojects.GHGS in saline aquifers should be considered with great care, because they mayeventually be needed to produce fresh water with desalinization technologies.Contaminating them with flue gas contaminants could render that water much less useful.The perhaps-obvious temptation to connect and co-optimize EOR’s need for carbondioxide with CO2 emission from common sources like power plants may deservereconsideration. Capture of CO2 will be most economical when combined with co-generation and especially with custom process designs with integrated carbon capture.Several excellent examples of such designs, incorporating thermal recovery and refiningbitumen, fertilizer manufacture, miscible recovery of light oils using CO2, recovery ofsulfur and/or metals, hydrogen synthesis, and/or CO2 pipelines are included here.The most obvious targets for sequestration are industrial installations of very large scale,like steel mills and aluminum smelters, where nitrogen compound emission contents canbe carefully managed.


Appendix: Nitrous Oxide EmissionsNitrous Oxide: A Necessary Evil Of Agriculture, by Richard Harrishttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112288478August 28, 2009Scientists are surprised to discover that a gas produced mainly in agriculture is doingmore to damage the Earth's ozone layer than synthetic chemicals such aschlorofluorocarbons.The culprit is a gas called nitrous oxide, known in your dentist's office as laughing gas.But in the stratosphere, it's no laughing matter.The Earth is protected from harsh ultraviolet sunlight by a layer of ozone up in thestratosphere. That layer was being depleted by synthetic chemicals used in aerosol spraycans, refrigerators and air conditioners.We averted global disaster by phasing out those chemicals with a treaty called theMontreal Protocol. But the Montreal Protocol is silent about nitrous oxide.Nitrous oxide has always been a normal part of our atmosphere, "but sinceindustrialization, its concentration has been going up," says A.R. Ravishankara at theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo.Now that synthetic chemicals are waning in the atmosphere, he wondered if other gasesposed any environmental threat. As he reports in the online edition of Science magazine,nitrous oxide, a byproduct of agriculture, is a serious problem for our planet."There's so much being emitted, that right now, nitrous oxide emissions would be thelargest ozone depleting gas emissions today, and it will continue to be in the future,"Ravishankara says.Holes In The OzoneNitrous oxide doesn't threaten to devastate the Earth's ozone layer the way the syntheticchemicals did. But it's still eroding a bit of our planetary sun shield, so it's increasing therisk of skin cancer, among other concerns.Ravishankara estimates that by the end of the century, we will have 4 percent less ozonein the stratosphere than we would have had before the Industrial Age, as a result ofnitrous oxide.The biggest ozone problem is over Antarctica. There, the ozone thins to such an extenteach autumn, scientists call it an "ozone hole.” That hole is slowly on the mend, andRavishankara says he expects that healing to continue over the coming decades."It turns out that nitrous oxide does not have a deleterious effect on the ozone hole. Itseffect is on the global ozone layer," he says.That's because the ozone hole is influenced by supercold clouds found only over thepoles. Those clouds release chlorine, which destroy ozone, but they actually neutralizenitrous oxide. So that's the good news.The Downside Of Fertilizer


The bad news is that it isn't easy to reduce human production of nitrous oxide. CindyNevison of the University of Colorado says controlling chlorofluorocarbons and othersynthetic chemicals that destroy ozone was relatively easy, since just a few factoriesproduced them."Whereas nitrous oxide is produced by microbes in the soil, and humans have greatlyincreased the amount of nitrogen available to these microbes," Nevison says.When we spread nitrogen fertilizer on the soil, we also feed those bacteria. And theyproduce more nitrous oxide. Bacteria in seawater also produce nitrous oxide when thefertilizer runs down the rivers and out to sea. Nevison says factories and automobiletailpipes produce some nitrous oxide, but not all that much."I think that limiting nitrous oxide is going to be more difficult than, for example,limiting carbon dioxide emissions. And we know how difficult that is," she says.That's because we need nitrogen — it's an essential part of protein. Carbon dioxidecomes mostly from smokestacks and tailpipes."You can get your energy from other sources than carbon, but you really can't get yourfood from sources other than nitrogen."We can't phase out nitrogen fertilizers, Nevison says. And studies show we could makeonly a modest difference if we used them more carefully.And it's not just the ozone layer that's at issue here. Nitrous oxide also contributes toglobal warming — so there's another important reason to pay attention to this often-neglected gas.KEYWORDS: Processing: incineration, co-generation, dry alkaline adsorption, ESP,scrubbing, maps. Reservoir Engineering: Enhanced oil recovery (EOR): miscible andimmiscible displacement. Hawk Point Field, Cantarell Field, Semitropic Field, WeyburnPilot Project, Saskatchewan, Zama oil field, Alberta, EOR, EPA, DOE, IEA, EIA of USDOE, Enhance Energy's Alberta Carbon Trunk Line (ACTL), Enhance Energy, AlbertaCarbon Trunk Line, ACTL, Nexen, Long Lake Upgrader, Long Lake Project,gasification, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), Steam Assisted GravityDrainage, SAGD, bitumen, diluent, integrated oil sands project, Bitumen Gasification,synthetic crude oil, Syncrude, coke (solid bitumen residue), petroleum coke, ultra lowsulfur diesel fuel, thermal hydrocrackers, hydrocracking, North West Upgrading (NWU),Agrium, agriculture, Fairborne Energy Ltd., Rowley field, Clive fields, GHG, GHG's,GHGS, steel mills, aluminum smelters, carbon electrodes, OrCrude™, OPTI Canada,Athabasca oil sands, Encana Weyburn Pilot Project, Encana, Dakota GasificationCompany, Apache’s Weyburn-Midale CO2 Project.

Flue Gas, Greenhouse Gases, & EOR

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