Petroleum Systems
•Oil Sands
•Tight Oil
•PRELIM
•Natural Gas
Summary
•Broadly, this research has improved assessments of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of oil sands technologies by characterizing drivers of variability in historic emissions and estimating the GHG emissions reductions achievable from emerging technologies
•Working with three oil sands companies and an advisory committee, we evaluated the robustness of the open source model Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) and improve the model using publicly available data from three existing oil sands projects.
•We estimated the GHG emissions from two emerging in situ oil sands technologies and estimate the reductions in GHG emissions expected from these technologies relative to existing in situ technologies operating at the same reservoir.
•Upstream emissions estimates for individual projects are built into representative oil sands pathways to estimate emissions over the well-to-wheel. PRELIM is used to estimate refinery emissions.
•This study provides a framework for evaluating the life cycle impacts of new technologies in oil sands operations and investigating the performance of these new technologies under various economic and policy conditions when the entire supply chain is considered.
Publications
•Sleep, S., Dadashi, Z., Chen, Y., Brandt, A. R., MacLean, H. L., & Bergerson, J. A. (2021). Improving robustness of LCA results through stakeholder engagement: A case study of emerging oil sands technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 281, 125277.
•Guo, J., Orellana, A., Sleep, S., Laurenzi, I. J., MacLean, H. L., & Bergerson, J. A. (2020). Statistically enhanced model of oil sands operations: Well-to-wheel comparison of in situ oil sands pathways. Energy, 208, 118250.
•Sleep, S., Guo, J., Laurenzi, I. J., Bergerson, J. A., & MacLean, H. L. (2020). Quantifying variability in well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emission intensities of transportation fuels derived from Canadian oil sands mining operations. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 120639.
Summary
•In this research we investigated three environmental impacts associated with the production and use of thirteen tight oil formations in Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB): GHG emissions, freshwater use, and induced seismicity.
•In this research the economics of tight oil and gas resources in WCSB is assessed to understand the economic impacts of these resources in comparison to other Canadian and global energy resources. The GHG emissions estimated in the previous study will be incorporated to look at important trade-offs between the economics and emission reductions and to recommend the most cost-effective environmentally friendly options.
Publications
•Bradley, A.C., Investigating the environmental impacts of western Canadian tight oil resources. (2020). M.S. Thesis
Summary
•This research updates the Petroleum Refinery Life Cycle Inventory Model (PRELIM) by validating the yields and utility consumption rates of refinery processing units, adding more processing units and stream flows, and analyzing GHG emissions variations caused by the change of carbon contents in fuels.
•This research applies PRELIM to evaluate the carbon intensity of global crude oil refining and mitigation potential as well as product-market dynamics.
•Investigates future-proofing the refining sector with a carbon-constrained energy market in Canada and beyond by integrating gasification, power-to-liquids, and green hydrogen production with petroleum refining.
•Envisions the role of carbon capture & storage (CCS) in future refinery/power generation systems.
•Uses techno-economic assessment to understand the environmental impact and development potential of CCS technologies in refinery/power generation systems by examining certain parameters such as the carbon intensity, efficiency penalty, carbon avoidance cost, etc.
•Investigates CCS technologies' achievability based on the system-level assessment and the technology readiness level.
•The co-processing of biomass-derived oils with petroleum intermediates facilitates the transition from fossil resources to a renewable scenario, using existing infrastructure and technology maturity of conventional refining systems.
•Explores the state-of-the-art on co-processing of bio-based feedstocks and petroleum fractions, considering different potential feedstocks, catalysts, operating conditions, products, and benefits, aimed at delivering a technological assessment of the existing research efforts.
•This research focuses on the evaluation of their viability and study of their performance through detailed process design and simulation, as well as the assessment of the energy intensity and related greenhouse gas emissions of co-processing operations and corresponding carbon intensities of final product streams.
•Aims to evaluate the allocation of the biogenic carbon in co-processed liquid product streams and explore best approaches for assessment and quantification to inform the Low Carbon Fuel Standard program.
•Investigates technology barriers and future potential to promote co-processing deployment in existing refining units such as fluid catalytic crackers and hydrotreaters.
Publications
•Sleep, S., Dadashi, Z., Chen, Y., Brandt, A. R., MacLean, H. L., & Bergerson, J. A. (2021). Improving robustness of LCA results through stakeholder engagement: A case study of emerging oil sands technologies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 281, 125277.
•Guo, J., Orellana, A., Sleep, S., Laurenzi, I. J., MacLean, H. L., & Bergerson, J. A. (2020). Statistically enhanced model of oil sands operations: Well-to-wheel comparison of in situ oil sands pathways. Energy, 208, 118250.
•Sleep, S., Guo, J., Laurenzi, I. J., Bergerson, J. A., & MacLean, H. L. (2020). Quantifying variability in well-to-wheel greenhouse gas emission intensities of transportation fuels derived from Canadian oil sands mining operations. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 120639.
•Jing, L., El-Houjeiri, H. M., Monfort, J. C., Brandt, A. R., Masnadi, M. S., Gordon, D., & Bergerson, J. A. (2020). Carbon intensity of global crude oil refining and mitigation potential. Nature Climate Change, 10(6), 526-532.
Summary
•This research estimates carbon intensity of upstream natural gas operations in Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin by using the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE) tool and publicly available data.
•GHG emissions of three formations in Alberta and BC (Duvernay, Northern Montney, and Heritage Montney) are compared with GHG emissions of selected global formations that provide natural gas for LNG markets.
•In this research we estimated GHG emissions of Canadian LNG to China for power and heat generations, by using production data from natural gas operation in Kakwa field in Northern Alberta.
Publications
•Nie, Y., Zhang, S., Liu, R.E., Roda-Stuart, D.J., Ravikumar, A.P., Bradley, A., Masnadi, M.S., Brandt, A.R., Bergerson, J., Bi, X.T. (2020). Greenhouse-gas emissions of Canadian liquified natural gas for use in China: comparison and synthesis of three independent life cycle assessments. Journal of Cleaner Production, 258, 120701.
•Bradley, A., Bergerson, J. Upstream emissions intensities of current and potential global LNG projects. (2019). Bergerson Consulting.