(8f) Simulation of the Oil-Treatment Process in the Oil Sands Plant

Teaching Interests: Process Simulation

The purpose of this paper is to define criteria to be used in the engineering design of an oil sands plant equipped with the steam assisted gravity drainage process. In this effort, the oil treatment process of the oil sands plant on a pilot scale was focused for detailed investigation. The thermodynamic properties of the process fluid, which is mainly composed of bitumen and water, were estimated with the CPA model. The commercial aspen HYSYS was implemented in the analysis throughout this work along with the provided input data and some necessary assumptions. From the simulation results, the heat and mass balances of the process for a 300 BPD oil sands plant were established in order to define standard data for its modular design. In particular, the designing basis for equipment size, heat transfer areas, capital cost and operation cost was extensively discussed.