• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.213-224
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• 2016

Non-conventional resource and alternative energy were researched for predicting oil peak. In this study, one of many non-conventional resources, specifically oil-sands, was investigated due to the increasing interest of oil-sands plant modularization in permaforst areas for reducing the construction periods through modular transportation while limiting local construction workers. Hence, tehcnological trends were analyzed for oil-sand plant modularization. Data used were between 1994 and 2015 for patent analysis while targets included Korea, US, Japan, Europe and Canada. Technology classification system consisted of mining, steam assisted gravity drainage(SAGD), separation/upgrading/tailors ponds, module design/packaging, module transportation and material/maintenance. Result of patent analysis, patent application accounts 89% in US and Canada. The main competitive companies were Shell, Suncor and Exxon-mobil. Unlike other oil developments, oil-sands have a long-term stable production characteristic, hence, it is important to ensure the competitiveness of oil-sands for obtaining a patent in the long run.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.211-217
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• 2019

Oil extraction from oil sands, a non-traditional crude oil resource, is attracting attention as the oil price fluctuates due to recent economical and political issues. Many oil sands sites are mainly located in the polar regions. For plant construction to extract crude oil from oil sands in harsh environment of the polar regions, fast and simple installation of plant foundation is necessary. However, typically-used conventional foundations such as drilled shafts and driven piles are not suitable to construct under cold temperature and organic surface layers. In this study, helical piles enabling rapid and simple constructions using small rotary equipment without driving or excavation was considered. The helical pile consists of steel shaft and several helices attached to the steel shaft; therefore, the behavior of the helical pile depends on the number and shape of the helices. The effect of the helices' configuration (number and diameter of helices) on helical pile behavior was analyzed based on the numerical analysis results.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.37-42
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• 2016

The demand for wireless technology in plant structure has recently been increasing due to several advantages such as installation cost reduction, easy placement, easy extension and aesthetic benefits. Among the many wireless technologies, ZigBee is one of the most useful for plant structure; a wireless plant networking system can be configured using ZigBee alone. This research proposes a ZigBee to use for extreme cold region and thereby enable integration of wired and wireless plant monitoring systems. In this study, in order to assess the performance of ZigBee measured data by thermocouple were examined based on the results from laboratory tests between existing ZigBee and developed ZigBee. From the experiment results, performance of developed ZigBee in harsh environment can be increased well.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2013

Heavy oil residue upgrading process was being used in conventional refinery process. Recently, as the importance of non conventional energy development is growing up, the commercial projects of heavy oil upgrading are getting more active than before. For having competitive business model in the resource competition, non conventional energy development should be considered as an important business strategy. In developing oil sands, extra heavy oil, and shale gas, canadian oil sands and extra heavy oil have great importance in substitution of conventional oil consumption. In oil sands development, the bitumen, which is extracted from oil sands, has great value after upgrading or refining process. Similar process is being used current conventional refinery process. The bitumen is highly viscous hydrocarbon. This bitumen includes impurities which can not be treated in conventional refinery process. As this reason, specified process is needed in bitumen or extra heavy oil upgrading process. Moreover, there will be additional specified facilities in the process of production, transportation and marketing. In oil sands, there are various kinds of commercial upgrading process. Extraction, dilution, coking and cracking method were being used commercially.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.63-71
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• 2023

The extreme cold regions, including the South and North Poles, are rich in resources, but there are many constraints on resource development projects due to difficult access and a construction environment that is completely different from that of Korea. In recent years, global warming has increased the demand for the construction of resource exploitation plants. For resource development construction activities, a preliminary site analysis is required to minimize the risk of project implementation. In this study, the factors were analyzed to be considered in construction activities in extreme cold and optimal location selection system based on Geographic information system(GIS) has been developed. As a result of applying the development system to Alberta, Canada, where oil sand development is actively underway, it was confirmed that the results were consistent with the currently operating oil sand mining area.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.29-40
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• 2018

Oil sands, which are largely distributed in Canada and Venezuela, are a mixture of crude oil and sandy soils. In order to extract crude oil from oil sands, construction of massive oil sand plants is required. Generally, the typically-used foundation types of the oil sand plant are driven piles and cast-in-place piles. Most of the oil sand plants are located in cold and remote regions. Installation of driven piles in frozen or organic surface soils is difficult due to high resistance and installation equipment accessability, while the cast-in-place pile has concrete curing problem due to cold temperature. Helical pile can be installed quickly and easily using rotation with a little help of vertical load. As the installation of helical pile is available using a small and light-weight installation equipment, accessibility of installation equipment is improved. The helical pile has an advantage of easy removal by rotation in reverse direction compared with that of installation. Furthermore, reuse of removed helical piles is possible when the piles are structurally safe. In this study, the behavior of helical piles varying helix pitch was analyzed based on the numerical analysis results. Numerical model was calibrated based on the results of model helical pile tests in laboratory. The ultimate helical pile loads, the displacement of each helix attached to the shaft of the helical pile, and the load sharing ratio of each helix were analyzed.

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.275-291
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• 2023

Global warming has made the polar regions more accessible, leading to increased demand for the construction of new resource-development plants in oil-rich permafrost regions. The selection of locations of resource-development plants in permafrost regions should consider the surface displacement resulting from thawing and freezing of the active layer of permafrost. However, few studies have considered surface displacement in the selection of optimal locations of resource-development plants in permafrost region. In this study, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis using a range of geospatial information variables was performed to select optimal locations for the construction of oil-sands development plants in the permafrost region of southern Athabasca, Alberta, Canada, including consideration of surface displacement. The surface displacement velocity was estimated by applying the Small BAseline Subset Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar technique to time-series Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar images acquired from February 2007 to March 2011. ERA5 reanalysis data were used to generate geospatial data for air temperature, surface temperature, and soil temperature averaged for the period 2000~2010. Geospatial data for roads and railways provided by Statistics Canada and land cover maps distributed by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation were also used in the AHP analysis. The suitability of sites analyzed using land cover, surface displacement, and road accessibility as the three most important geospatial factors was validated using the locations of oil-sand plants built since 2010. The sensitivity of surface displacement to the determination of location suitability was found to be very high. We confirm that surface displacement should be considered in the selection of optimal locations for the construction of new resource-development plants in permafrost regions.