Athabasca Oil Corp. has awarded GE a contract to design and supply an integrated evaporator system for its 12,000 barrels per day Hangingstone oil sands operation located near Fort McMurray in northeastern Alberta, Canada.
GE’s produced water evaporation process will enable the treatment of produced water from the Hangingstone facility’s steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process, combined with the use of brackish makeup water in lieu of fresh makeup water. The water treatment system will recover 97% of the produced water and brackish makeup water fed to the system as boiler feedwater to drive the SAGD process.
GE’s produced water evaporation solution has become the technology of choice for SAGD projects in the Canadian oil sands region as it helps producers minimize water consumption and water disposal, reduce environmental footprint and improve operating efficiencies.
GE will be providing Athabasca with two evaporator units, which will include GE’s split sump design for enhanced energy efficiency. The system also will incorporate GE’s fifth-generation module design to meet the customer’s need for an enhanced project schedule and cost certainty. GE will deliver the equipment to the site in the third quarter of 2013 with commercial operation expected to begin in 2014.
Source: GE