UCalgary-Led Project Tackles Long-Standing Problem In Oilsands Industry
The University of Calgary is leading a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research team in a $2M project aimed at finding a solution to one of the oilsands industry’s most persistent and costly operational problems in erosion and corrosion.
Researchers at UCalgary, the University of Alberta, and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) are collaborating with members of Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) on the five-year project. Canada’s oilsands are crucial to a sustainable energy future amidst diverse types of conventional, alternative and renewable energy sources.
The goal is to reduce fouling by inorganic and organic deposits, and erosion and corrosion that occur in boilers such as the “once-through steam generators” widely used in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oilsands operations.