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Patent Analysis of Oil Sands Bitumen Upgrading Technologies  

Lee, Ki Bong (Alternative Fuels Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Jeon, Sang Goo (Alternative Fuels Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Nho, Nam Sun (Alternative Fuels Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Kim, Kwang Ho (Alternative Fuels Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Shin, Dae Hyun (Alternative Fuels Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
Kim, Seon Wook (Korea National Oil Corporation)
Kim, Yong Heon (Korea National Oil Corporation)
Publication Information
Applied Chemistry for Engineering / v.19, no.6, 2008 , pp. 592-599 More about this Journal
Abstract
Oil sands had not received enough attention due to high production cost. However, as oil price significantly increases, oil sands are receiving more and more interest as unconventional crude oil. The value and applicability of oil sands can be enhanced by upgrading oil sands bitumen to produce synthetic crude oil (SCO). This study analyzed 213 oil sands upgrading patents applied between 1969 and 2006 in US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and Korea. The upgrading technologies could be classified into 9 detailed technologies; hydrocracking, coking, thermal cracking, deasphalting, supercritical technology, bio-technology, hydrotreating, gasification, and others. The number of patents applied for oil sands upgrading increased after 1970, reached a maximum in the early 1980, and slowly increases again in recent years. Korea has a lack of technologies for oil sands. Therefore, the technologies for oil sands production and application, specially, upgrading technologies based on accumulated oil refinery technologies need to be developed to increase self-development ratio of energy resource.
Keywords
oil sands; bitumen; upgrading technology; patent analysis;
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