• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.109-116
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• 2007

As conventional light oil resources deplete, it is becoming necessary to develop unconventional resources. To meet the demand for petrochemical industry, heavier sources such as heavy oil and bitumen are being utilized. Bitumens, a complex hydrocarbon made up of a long chain of molecules, are found in oil sand. It is estimated that 830 billion barrels of oil are located in the oil sand in Alberta, Canada. This paper will review briefly (1) the basic concept of oil sand, bitumen, and heavy oil, (2) methods how to extract oil from oil sand, (3) methods how to upgrade to synthetic crude oil, and (4) economic evaluation of technology.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.119-142
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• 2013

Pile load tests using Osterberg cells (O-cell) were conducted on cast-in-place concrete piles founded in oil sand fill and in situ oil sand at an industrial plant site in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. Interpreted pile test results show that very high pile shaft resistance (with the Bjerrum-Burland or Beta coefficient of 2.5-4.5) against oil sand could be mobilized at small relative displacements of 2-3% of shaft diameter. Finite element simulations based on linear elastic and elasto-plastic models for oil sand materials were used to analyze the pile load test measurements. Two constitutive models yield comparable top-down load versus pile head displacement curves, but very different behaviour in mobilization of pile shaft and end bearing resistances. The elasto-plastic model produces more consistent matching in both pile shaft and end bearing resistances whereas the linear elastic under- and over-predicts the shaft and end bearing resistances, respectively. The mobilization of high shaft resistance in oil sand under pile load is attributed to the very dense and interlocked structure of oil sand which results in high matrix stiffness, high friction angle, and high shear dilation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 1997.05a
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• pp.43-46
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• 1997

The results of an investigation conducted to study the effect of crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of sand of presented. The effect of the degree of oil contamination on compaction characteristics, shear strength, and one-dimensional compression characteristics has been investigated. The test results indicate that the compaction characteristics are somewhat influenced by oil contamination. The angle of internal friction of sand (based on total stress basis) decreases due to the presence of oil within the pore spaces in sand. The compression characteristics of sand are significantly-influenced by oil contamination. The details of the tests conducted and the results are presented in the paper.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.299-312
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• 2020

The aim of this paper was to investigating the effects of soil relative density, construction materials roughness, oil type (gasoil, crude oil, and used motor oil), and oil content on the internal and interface shear behavior of sand with different construction materials by means of a modified large direct shear test apparatus. Tests conducted on the soil-soil (S-S), soil-rough concrete (S-RC), soil-smooth concrete (S-SC), and soil-steel (S-ST) interfaces and results showed that the shear strength of S-S interface is always higher than the soil-material interfaces. Internal and interface friction angles of sand beds increased by increase in relative density and decreased by increasing oil content. The oil properties (especially viscosity) played a major role in interface friction behavior. Despite the friction angles of contaminated sands with viscous fluids drastically decreased, it compensated by the apparent cohesion and adhesion developed between the soil grains and construction materials.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.211-221
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• 2017

A laboratory investigation into crude oil contaminated sand-concrete interface behavior is performed. The interface tests were carried out through a direct shear apparatus. Pure sand and sand-bentonite mixture with different crude oil contents and three concrete surfaces of different textures (smooth, semi-rough, and rough) were examined. The experimental results showed that the concrete surface texture is an effective factor in soil-concrete interface shear strength. The interface shear strength of the rough concrete surface was found higher than smooth and semi-rough concrete surfaces. In addition to the texture, the normal stress and the crude oil content also play important roles in interface shear strength. Moreover, the friction angle decreases with increasing crude oil content due to increase of oil concentration in soil and it increases with increasing interface roughness.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.62-66
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• 2009

Utilization and interest of unconventional fuel and process residue such as oil sand and its residue, oil sand coke, have been increased because of the continuous rise of fuel price and conventional fuel availability. In this study, the gasification of oil sand coke produced from coking process of oil sand was performed to utilize as an energy resource using lab-scale fixed bed gasification system. The combustion characteristics of oil sand bitumen and oil sand coke were investigated by using TGA and lab-scale gasification system was applied to reveal the characteristics of produced syngas composition with oxygen/fuel ratio, temperature and steam injection rate. Oil sand coke shows a high carbon content, heating value and sulfur content and low ash content and reactivity. In case of oil sand coke gasification, generally with increasing temperature, the amount of steam introduced and decreasing oxygen injection rate, $H_2$ content in product gas increased while the $CO_2$ content decreased. The calorific value of syngas shows about $2100kcal/Nm^3$ and this result indicates that the oil sand coke can be used as a resource of hydrogen and fuel.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.35-41
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• 2008

The study of coking technology to upgrade oil sand bitumen which is considered as alternative fuel was performed by using thermogravity analyzer and delayed coking reactor(600ml). To analyzed and compared coking characteristics of oil sand bitumen, the reactivities of oil sand bitumen were measured in the TGA. At the temperature conditions of $400{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ and the temperature rising velocity of $50^{\circ}C/min$. the termination time of coking reaction and conversion efficiencies increased with an increase of bed temperature. However the increase rate decreased over $450^{\circ}C$. So the coking reaction with oil sand bitumen might be over $450^{\circ}C$. Also the termination time decreased with increasing the temperature rising velocity. But the content of coke increased with increasing temperature rising velocity. At the experiments in the delayed coker, the temperature condition at maximum oil yield was $475^{\circ}C$ and the fuel properties of oil from coking reaction was almost equal with conventional diesel. It was verified that the coking process might be useful process to upgrade the oil sand bitumem by using API and SIMDAS.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.91-97
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• 1997

The result of an investigation conducted to study the effect of crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of sand is presented. The effect of the degree of oil contamination on compaction charateristics, shear strength, and one-dimensional compression charateristics has been investigated. The test results indicate that the compaction charateristics are somewhat influenced by oil contamination The angle friction of sand (based on total stress basis) decreases due to the presence of oil within the pore spaces in sand. The compression charateristics of sand are significantly influenced by oil contamination. The details of the tests conducted and the results are presented in the paper.

• Geotechnical Engineering
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.37-44
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• 1997

In this paper, the effects of crude oil contamination on the geotechnical properties of sand such as compaction characteristics, shear strength, permeability, and bearing capacity are presented. The test results indicate that the compaction characteristics are somewhat influenced by oil contamination. The angle of internal friction of sand based on total stress analysis decreases due to the presence of oil within the pore spaces in Band. The bearing capacity of sand is significantly influenced by oil contamination.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.437-443
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• 2003

Bioremediation technologies were applied to experimental microcosms, simulating an oil spill in a lower intertidal area. Three treatments (oil only, oil plus nutrients, and oil plus nutrients and microbial inocula) were applied, and each microcosm was repeatedly filled and eluted with seawater every 12 h to simulate tidal cycles. To minimize washing-out of the inoculum by the tidal cycles, microbial cells were primarily immobilized on diatomaceous earth before they were applied to the oiled sand. Oil degradation was monitored by gravimetric measurements, thin layer chromatography/flame ionization detector (TLC/FID) analysis, and gas chromatography (GC) analysis, and the loss of oil content was normalized to sand mass or nor-hopane. When the data were normalized to sand mass, no consistent differences were detected between nutrient-amended and nutrient/inoculum-amended microcosms, although both differed from the oil-only microcosm in respect of oil removal rate by a factor of 4 to 14. However, the data relative to nor-hopane showed a significant treatment difference between the nutrient-amended and nutrient/inoculum-treated microcosms, especially in the early phase of the treatment. The accelerating effect of inoculum treatment has hardly been reported in studies of oil bioremediation in the Tower intertidal area. The inoculum immobilized on diatomaceous earth seemed to be a very effective formulation for retaining microbial cells in association with the sand. Results of this study also suggest that interpretation of the effectiveness of bioremediation could be dependent on the selection of monitoring methods, and consequently the application of various analytical methods in combination could be a solution to overcome the limitations of oil bioremediation monitoring.