GE Water & Process Technologies, a division of GE Infrastructure, and the Alberta Water Research Institute say they hope to achieve sizable reductions in the amount of energy and water used in some oilsands projects - and then potentially export the technology to similar heavy-oil ventures elsewhere around the globe.

The project focuses on saving energy and water during the process of separating the gooey bitumen from sand.

"Our goal is to reduce the water utilization by 30 per cent (compared to other conventional systems), to reduce the energy utilization by 30 per cent and to reduce the cost by 30 per cent," says Lorne Taylor, chair of the Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI), part of the Alberta Ingenuity Fund whose mandate is to develop internationally competitive science and engineering expertise.

"It's a research agreement. What's interesting is that we're taking some existing technology and putting it into an existing oilsands plant and refining the technology to meet the goals of this project."

Lorne Taylor, chair of the Alberta Water Research Institute

The partners believe they can achieve sizable reductions in the amount of energy and water used in oilsands projects that use steam assisted gravity drainage, in which steam is injected into the oilsands to separate the bitumen from the sand.

Both U.S.-based GE Water and the Alberta Water Research Institute are each contributing $7.5 million to the partnership, which also includes a second initiative to develop an educational program for business executives on advanced water-management strategies.

The main project will build on GE's design and operations experience and technologies already in use in the oilsands, including advanced membranes, thermal evaporation systems, mobile filtration units and water treatment chemistry.

"The challenge of this application is extreme," says Graham Sim, global solutions product manager for industrial water for GE Water & Process Technologies. "The temperatures are ranging between 85°C and 95°C, there is significant variation in the water chemistry and lots of emulsified oil, ashphaltene, etc. Producers are looking for a proven, reliable solution.

"The successful development of this technology will result in significant energy savings."

The company believes that these de-oiling capabilities will also help all oilsands operations save water.

Walter Dale, GE Water and Process Technologies' vice-president responsible for Western Canada, says it will be awhile before the technology can leave the pilot project stage.

"Industry has told us that they need at least six months of operating data to justify whether or not it's scalable to full production sizes. That's why we plan to partner with industry and prove the technology using pilot plants," says Dale.

The educational component, a curriculum for which is still being developed, will help position Alberta as a research centre of excellence, he adds.

"There will be general education for individual executives and the public on the value of water and how modern technology today will assist in the sustainable and economical development of the oilsands," he says, noting this will help oilsands executives to better understand and appreciate the value of water in their own plant's value chain.

The AWRI's Taylor says he's confident that the rest of the project will go as quickly and as smoothly as the deal to set it up, which was spurred by an initial memorandum of understanding signed between the province of Alberta and GE a year ago.

"There are few jurisdictions that can do a partnership like this so quickly," says Taylor. "We started talking to GE at end of May. Four and a half months later, we signed a deal."

Doug Horner, minister of Alberta advanced education and technology, also applauded the initiative with what he called "one of the world's most active international companies."

"From the spark of an idea through the many stages of development, Alberta is one of the best places in the world for industry to explore or market creative solutions to some of the global challenges, and water management is one of the key areas where we can contribute to a better world," Horner said in a statement.

In a later interview, he added that he sees a number of potential spinoffs from the pilot project and is looking forward to other similar agreements.

"With this separation of oil and water, we could possibly use that technology in other separation processing (operations), such as mining, food processing or the chemical industry - it's not just Alberta applications but global applications," says Horner. "What we want to do is create the commodity of knowledge."

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)