Keeping Our Air Clean - Best Practice Technologies

Petro-Canada Oil Sands Inc. (PCOSI) plans to employ effective technology to help reduce air pollutants resulting from the Fort Hills Oil Sands project. It has set the bar for oxides of nitrogen (NOx) reduction by incorporating cutting-edge technologies and processes. We will use ultra-low sulphur diesel that will help to reduce the sulphur emissions from our mining truck fleet. The Sturgeon Upgrader’s sulphur plant is designed to achieve the highest achievable sulphur recovery of 99.9%, which reduces sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions from the facility to the lowest practical levels. In addition, the largest NOx source at the Sturgeon Upgrader will be the hydrogen plant, which we plan to equip with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology to significantly reduce NOx emissions from the facility. This is expected to be a first for the region.

While the Toxics Watch Society of Alberta, a non-profit environmental and public health organization, is concerned about the pace of development of Alberta’s oil sands, it commends PCOSI’s proactive approach to implement SCR technology at the Fort Hills Sturgeon Upgrader.

“We believe that Petro-Canada’s decision to adopt SCR technology at its Fort Hills Sturgeon Upgrader hydrogen plant exemplifies best available technology behaviour and is a best-in-class leader on this issue,” says Myles Kitagawa, associate director of Toxics Watch Society of Alberta.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The reality is: technologies to develop the Alberta oil sands are more greenhouse gas (GHG) intensive than those used for conventional resources. That’s because of the complex processing required to remove the heavy bitumen from the sands and then upgrade it further to synthetic crude oil before it is sent for refining. Petro-Canada is committed to reducing emissions at its oil sands projects and is looking at tangible ways to make a difference.

Our Greenhouse Gas Strategy

We are active participants in industry research that helps to reduce our potential GHG emissions, and delivers practical and real emissions reductions for industry. For us, the process starts by using proven energy efficient technology to reduce emissions. Petro-Canada is a member of the Alberta Saline Aquifer Project, sponsored by Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada, which is studying the possible development of carbon dioxide (C02) capture and sequestration infrastructure. We are designing our Sturgeon Upgrader to be carbon sequestration ready and to minimize GHG emissions by specifying high efficiency furnaces, volatile organic compound control technology for tanks, valves and pumps, and a comprehensive leak detection program modelled on the program currently used at Petro-Canada’s Edmonton refinery. In all our oil sands projects, we pursue financially and environmentally sound offsets as part of our Greenhouse Gas Strategy.

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