The Shell Scotford Upgrader is an oilsand

upgrader An upgrader is a facility that upgrades bitumen (extra heavy oil) into synthetic crude oil. Upgrader plants are typically located close to oil sands production, for example, the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada or the Orinoco tar sands i ...

, a facility which processes crude

bitumen Bitumen ( , ) is an immensely viscosity, viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition, it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American Engl ...

from

oil sands Oil sands are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. They are either loose sands, or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water, soaked with bitumen (a dense and extremely viscous ...

into a wide range of synthetic crude oils. The upgrader is owned by Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP), a joint venture of Shell Canada Energy (60%), Marathon Oil Sands L.P. (20%) and Chevron Canada Limited (20%). The facility is located in the industrial development of Scotford, just to the northeast of

Fort Saskatchewan Fort Saskatchewan is a city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It is part of the Edmonton Capital Region#Edmonton CMA, Edmonton census metropolitan area and one of 24 muni ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

in the

Edmonton Capital Region Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region, and is in Treaty 6 terr ...

Site

The Scotford Upgrader is a part of a larger site known as Shell Scotford located 40 km northeast of

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Shell Scotford comprises three operating units: the Upgrader, a Refinery, and a Chemical plant. The Scotford Cogeneration Plant is also located on the site. Currently, work is being done on the first Upgrader expansion. In 1984, Shell opened both the Refinery and Chemical plant on the Scotford site. As one of North America's most modern and efficient refineries, the Scotford Refinery was the first to exclusively process synthetic crude oil from Alberta’s oil sands. Benzene that is produced during the refining process is sent to the adjacent Chemical plant and is used in the production of Styrene Monomer, a chemical needed to make many of the hard plastics people use daily. In 2000, a glycol plant was opened at Scotford Chemicals. Much of the output of the Scotford Upgrader is sold to the Scotford Refinery. Both light and heavy crudes are also sold to Shell's Sarnia Refinery in Ontario. The rest of the synthetic crude is sold to the general marketplace and shipped by pipeline.

History of Scotford

In 1891, a group of immigrants from Galicia, Austria settled on the land south of the North Saskatchewan River, near the South Victoria Trail. Philip Krebs, along with his son John, settled on the north side of South Victoria Trail. Their home became a popular stopping place for those travelling along the trail. Besides being a hospitable natured man, John was fluent in four European languages (German, English, Polish, and Ukrainian) and could speak Cree - making him popular with those who stopped by. When the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

was being built into Fort Saskatchewan, Philip Krebs’ homestead was a natural place for a stop. In 1905, a loading station was erected there, and on the siding of the building was the name “Scotford” (named after ''Walter Scott'' and ''Alexander Rutherford'', the premiers of the two provinces – Saskatchewan and Alberta - that were formed that same year). The area is still referred to by that name.

Description

The Scotford Upgrader has a rated processing capacity of . It was shut down after being damaged in a fire 19 November 2007. The production was resumed in December 2007. The facility uses hydrogen addition to convert the bitumen from CNRL's Muskeg River Mine in the Athabasca oil sands into refinery-ready sweet, light

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring u ...

. The Muskeg River Mine is the first commercial unit using Shell's ''Enhance'' froth treatment technology — a process for removing sand, fine clay and water from oil sands froth to make clean bitumen suitable for upgrading via hydrogen addition. According to Shell, the

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to redox, reduce or Saturated ...

process is well suited to the very clean bitumen produced at the Muskeg River Mine, and results in the upgrader producing more light crude oil than it inputs in the form of heavy bitumen. It also produces lower levels of

sulfur dioxide Sulfur dioxide (IUPAC-recommended spelling) or sulphur dioxide (traditional Commonwealth English) is the chemical compound with the formula . It is a colorless gas with a pungent smell that is responsible for the odor of burnt matches. It is r ...

emissions than the alternative coking method which removes carbon to produce

petroleum coke Petroleum coke, abbreviated coke, pet coke or petcoke, is a final carbon-rich solid material that derives from oil refinery, oil refining, and is one type of the group of fuels referred to as Coke (fuel), cokes. Petcoke is the coke that, in parti ...

as a by-product. The Scotford Upgrader has its own hydrogen manufacturing unit and produces most of the

hydrogen Hydrogen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol H and atomic number 1. It is the lightest and abundance of the chemical elements, most abundant chemical element in the universe, constituting about 75% of all baryon, normal matter ...

required for the hydrogen-addition process. The Scotford Upgrader capacity was expanded by in March 2010, an increase of 60% in capacity. In May 2007, the US$9 billion to US$11.3 billion expansion contract was awarded to TIC, Bantrel Constructors, PCL & KBR. KBR built 160 modules and performed construction work for the Atmospheric and Vacuum (A&V) unit and Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU). Bantrel completed the tank farm, Utilities, Waterblock and Flare units, PCL completed the Residue Hydroconversion Complex (RHC) and TIC constructed the Hydrogen Manufacturing Unit (HMU) .

References

External links

* ww.bechtel.com/assets/files/PDF/DetailDesign.pdf Upgrader Design Detailsbr>Scotford Upgrader (Shell Canada website)(Oil Sands Magazine)
{{coord, 53, 48, 14, N, 113, 06, 00, W, type:landmark, display=title Petroleum technology Bituminous sands of Canada Petroleum industry in Alberta Petroleum industry in Canada Oil refineries in Alberta Buildings and structures in Alberta Shell plc buildings and structures Strathcona County

Site

History of Scotford

Description

See also

References

External links