Investments in technology helped unlock the potential of the oil sands in the first place by improving reliability and environmental performance, driving down costs and expanding productivity. Suncor recognizes that investments in technology are a key part of our strategy going forward, and will be essential in moving towards a sustainable energy future.

Technology in Action: Tackling the Tailings Challenge

It’s a textbook example of how technology has the potential to transform traditional industry practices. Pending regulatory approval, Suncor plans to spend $450 million in 2010 to begin commercial implementation of its TRO_TM (Tailings Reduction Operations) method, a new strategy for managing mine tailings. The centerpiece of the TRO_TM process is a proprietary de-watering process that will more rapidly turn fluid tailings ponds into solid landscapes suitable for reclamation. Suncor expects the TRO_TM method to result in reclaimable surfaces approximately 10 years after initial land disturbance—a third of the average time it currently takes. The TRO_TM approach will also help reduce our existing inventory of tailings and the need for future storage ponds.

The net result: a smaller environmental footprint and restoration of natural habitats decades ahead of what industry can now achieve.

Watch a video to see how TRO_TM works 

Learn more about Tailings Reduction Operations

Capturing Carbon

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology has been identified as a key long-term tool for achieving large reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. But current technology remains too expensive for the oil sands industry to implement on a broad scale. As a member of the CO₂ Capture Project—a research network comprised of some of the world’s leading energy companies and various government organizations—Suncor is part of several initiatives aimed at making CCS a more commercially viable option.

In particular, Suncor is leading a research and development project that could improve the prospects for implementing CCS at in-situ extraction sites. Approximately 80% of the proven oil sands reserves are currently recoverable only through the use of steam-assisted in-situ technology. As a result, the once-through steam generator (OTSG) boilers used for in-situ bitumen production are expected to be one of the industry’s largest sources of growth in GHG emissions.

Currently available technologies for CO₂ capture from OSTG boilers are expensive (more than $150 per tonne) and require a significant amount of steam. Suncor, along with Praxair, Devon Canada, EnCana and Statoil, are proposing to construct and operate a pilot plant that would employ oxyfuel technology as an alternative combustion source for OTSG boilers.

Oxyfuel technology uses high purity oxygen produced by an oxygen plant, instead of air, for combustion. Oxyfuel technology offers several potential advances over current CO₂ capture technologies, including significantly reduced costs, reduced energy needs and simpler operations. Another key advantage is the potential for nearly complete (more than 98% carbon capture from combustion operations). The technology also results in the capture of over 99% of the CO₂ that would have otherwise been emitted, and captures sufficient water as a byproduct of the combustion process to reduce or even eliminate the need for process water make-up.

Suncor and its research partners are completing the first design phase of the project and have applied to the Alberta government’s Climate Change Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC) for financial support for phase two, involving the construction and operation of a test facility. Favorable findings from this project could advance the timetable for commercial implementation of CCS across the oil sands industry.

In addition to research into oxyfuel technology, Suncor is investigating a range of other options for optimizing carbon capture and reducing carbon emissions. This includes capture technologies for refining, power generation and upgrading operations, with a focus on the demonstration of emerging and pre-commercial technologies.

Learn more at the CO₂ Capture Project website

Other Technologies

Suncor continues to investigate or monitor research in a number of long-term potential technology solutions. These include:

• Various in-situ recovery techniques, including electrical, solvent and in-situ combustion systems.
• Direct-contact steam generation, which sends steam and flue gas downhole for in-situ recovery.
• Using geothermal energy buried deep within the ground to produce the heat needed to extract bitumen from the oil sands.
• Gasification technology that would turn petroleum coke (a byproduct of the oil sands upgrading process) into synthesis gas. The synthesis gas could then be used to generate electricity and/or hydrogen as a substitute for using natural gas.

Suncor is actively investigating a promising new technology that would allow us to recover bitumen from mature fine tailings (MFT) before the MFT is reclaimed. The bitumen content of MFT ranges from three to five percent. This new technology may have other applications beyond just MFT. Suncor expects to have a pilot project for MFT bitumen recovery in place in 2011.

As well, the company is studying two promising technologies that are a marked departure from the existing Clark hot-water bitumen extraction processed currently being used. These technologies could result in improved bitumen recovery at lower cost with much less environmental impact.

Positive Collaboration

In many ways, 2009 was a year for reviewing and retooling the oil sands industry’s ongoing efforts to develop and deploy new technologies. Going forward, one of the key vehicles for this will be the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI), an organization Suncor recently helped to co-found and that currently includes ConocoPhillips, Total, Statoil and Nexen as members.

Mark Johnstone is senior advisor, new technology, in Suncor’s Design and Technology group. He is also a member of OSLI’s technology breakthrough working group. “Harnessing new technologies to improve environmental performance and reliability is an industry-wide challenge,” observes Johnstone. “So here’s an opportunity to tackle this issue as an industry. The whole idea is to pool financial resources and technical expertise to target the highest probability of success.”

OSLI’s technology working group is moving ahead on several fronts. One of the first is to establish a screening process to better review technology proposals from third parties. Traditionally, explains Johnstone, each company has done this on its own, resulting in a time-consuming and unnecessary duplication of effort. “We’re establishing a single screening service for all OSLI members to look at these proposals and separate the wheat from the chaff,” says Johnstone. “The most promising ones will then come back to us and we can spend more quality time reviewing them.”

The working group is also thinking outside the box to stimulate innovative projects. For example, it is considering what a model 21^st century oil sands plant would look like. “We are thinking in terms of achieving the highest operating efficiencies, whether it’s zero water use or a vanishing carbon footprint,” says Johnstone. “The idea is that we will then put in place a series of actions and start doing the research to get us there.”

OSLI is also looking for the brightest ideas from outside the industry. One potential vehicle is to establish an Incentive Prize in an effort to entice innovators around the world to help solve key technology challenges. This effort is modeled on the X Prize Foundation, which first captured the world’s attention in 2004 when it awarded $10 million to a team that built and launched the first private spaceship. In 2010, OSLI will investigate the various incentive prize models that exist and determine which approach could be best applied to the challenges in the oil sands industry.