Petcoke is a major waste product from Alberta’s oil sands’ upgraders and represents a considerable environmental concern within the province:
- 54 million tons of petcoke is currently stockpiled in Alberta(1)
- 20,000 TPD of petcoke were generated in Alberta during February 2007(1) and are expected to reach over 40,000 TPD by 2015(2)
At the same time, vast quantities of natural gas are used in both the oil sands extraction and upgrading process and gas demand is expected to rise significantly with increasing production:
- An average of 1-2 MMBtu (million British thermal units) is consumed per barrel of oil produced
Forecast Gas Demand for Oil Sands Operations 
Source: EUB ST98-2006:Alberta’s Energy Reserves 2005 and Supply/Demand Outlook Conventional Natural Gas
Given these market dynamics petcoke in general and the oil sands operations in particular represent a tremendous market opportunity for GreatPoint Energy’s bluegas™ solution. In recognition of this, GreatPoint Energy and the Alberta Energy Research Institute are together generating a program of testing, development and ultimately commercialization of the bluegas™ process in its application to a variety of petcoke feedstocks in Alberta. (For additional information, please visit the GreatPoint Energy Partners page.)
(1) Alberta Oil Sands Plant Statistics: Monthly Supplement – February 2007: Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, 2007.
(2) Stewart, Mike. "Petcoke Supply - Will It Ever Be Sunny Again." Jacobs Consultancy. Petcoke Conference. Hilton Americas, Houston, TX. 13 June 2007.
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