Graeme wrote:Does anyone know anything about Orimulsion as a potential energy source worldwide?
http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/pub ... 2_1_06.asp
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Orimulsion® is an innovative fossil fuel that was developed in the late 1980s from the vast reserves of bitumen (a heavy hydrocarbon) in the Orinoco Belt of east-central Venezuela. Its primary purpose is as a boiler fuel for electric power generation.
Orimulsion® has been used commercially since 1991, and is now being consumed in Denmark, Italy, Germany, Canada, Japan and China. New contracts have been developed with customers in Italy, Singapore, South Korea and China. The current production capacity of 6.5 million tonnes per year is being expanded to supply this increased demand.
Orimulsion® is shipped from the Caribbean coast of Venezuela by ocean vessel to these worldwide customers. The primary new market for the fuel in the power generation sector is a group of existing power plants that possess certain key attributes. These attributes include the following:
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Boiler-type power plants located on or near a deep water port where Orimulsion® can be directly offloaded from ocean vessels to power plant fuel storage facilities. These plant sites must also have sufficient space for new air quality control equipment to be installed as part of the conversion.
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These plants should have high fuel costs and consequently low utilization, so they can benefit from the economics of conversion to Orimulsion®. As a result, the plants become efficient, low cost, base load generators with high utilization, while meeting strict environmental standards.
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These plants should be large capacity generators in good condition in order to justify the capital expense required for the conversion.
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The converted plant must be able to compete for base-load generation in their regional power pool. Consequently, an otherwise ideal plant located in a power pool with an oversupply of low-cost base-load power would not be a good candidate.
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Finally, the plant’s ownership must be oriented toward improved environmental and financial performance, and have the willingness to undertake the project.
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While there is interest in “greenfield” projects on the part of some power plant owners, the above profile of a conversion candidate plant represents the primary market for Orimulsion®.
Dezakin wrote:Yuck. We can allready do nuclear power far cleaner than this, and it looks like this only competes with nuclear and coal, and requires new infrastructure for it. If we're reving our infrastructure we should be using new nuclear rather than this crap. Otherwise its wasting a good chemical feedstock for synthetic fuels.
Given that coal is cheap and oil is dear it would seem to make far more sense to build refineries that can handle bitumen rather than special power stations to do it.
128shot wrote:Why don't we switch over to this, yet another fossil fule (makes me cringe too), untill we develop renews?
http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/promos/NB-Power/Orimulsion-e.asp
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tanada wrote:How would this be any better than using lignite or sub-bitoumus slurry? Fossil fuel is still going to be a major polluter, no matter how you slice it.128shot wrote:Why don't we switch over to this, yet another fossil fule (makes me cringe too), untill we develop renews? link
ORIMULSION: Concentrating on blending and upgrading makes financial sense (link)
... Orimulsion is an emulsion of 70% bitumen -- more about this later on -- and 30% water which can be burned in power plants.
... The product had its teething problems ... the emulsion was unstable and difficult to keep on spec and, when burned, it emitted ash into the atmosphere ... but these were solved and the product has been successful.
... But the government was determined to improve the income from the Orinoco Belt and ten years later encouraged a new development with the formation of four consortia to produce extra-heavy crude in the Orinoco Belt and upgrade it into a more commercially attractive product.
... when oil prices took off a couple of years ago, tripling the price of upgraded crudes and leaving the price of Orimulsion, tied to the price of coal, far behind. The government then decided they would accept no new clients for Orimulsion, ceased its production themselves, and let Sinovensa (a joint venture with a Chinese company) meet all present and future demand.
The government has now stated Sinovensa will stop producing Orimulsion and instead will blend extra-heavy oil with light oil to produce a crude of some 16º API until such time as upgrading facilities are available. The government has been caught unprepared with insufficient upgrading plants, and this bottle neck is likely to last some time since these plants are like large refineries, cost billions of dollars and take years to construct.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
In the early 1980s Intevep, the research affiliate of the state oil company PDVSA, developed a method of utilising some of the hitherto untouched potential of Venezuela's extra-heavy oil resource. The extra-heavy oil (7.5-8.5º gravity API) was extracted from the reservoir and emulsified with water (70% natural bitumen, 30% water, <1% surfactants). The resulting product was called Orimulsion®. Initial tests were conducted in Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom, and exports began in 1988. Bitúmenes del Orinoco S.A. (Bitor), a PDVSA subsidiary, operated a plant at Morichal in Cerro Negro with a capacity of 5.2 million tonnes per year. In 2005 PDVSA announced it would cease Orimulsion® production because it was more profitable to sell the extracted oil as feedstock to extra-heavy oil upgraders. In 2006, PDVSA and CNPC (Chinese National Oil Company) initiated the Sinovensa project, to supply two power plants in China and to meet some of PDVSA's commitments to supply Orimulsion®. However, in September 2006 the Minister of Energy and Petroleum announced that the Sinovensa operation would cease production at the end of the year.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
128shot wrote:Tanada wrote:How would this be any better than using lignite or sub-bitoumus slurry? Fossil fuel is still going to be a major polluter, no matter how you slice it.128shot wrote:Why don't we switch over to this, yet another fossil fule (makes me cringe too), untill we develop renews? link
Well, its really just to continue to pump out oil, pollution will just have to be dealt with.
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