CN Rail has hired a Calgary engineering firm to take the next step in its pilot project to increase the safety of crude oil shipped by rail.
The B次元官网网址淐anapuxB次元官网网址� project is moving to a high-volume test phase this year with a pilot plant in Calgary, CN said in from its Montreal headquarters. The trademarked name refers to rectangular packages using polymer plastic to solidify and encase the heavy oil.
Calgary-based Toyo Engineering Canada has been selected to build a facility to test the productB次元官网网址檚 durability at the volume required for open rail car shipping, similar to bulk commodities like coal and petroleum coke, a byproduct of conventional heavy oil refining. The Canapux float in water and oil doesnB次元官网网址檛 leak out.
CN and other railways are facing increased demand for liquid crude oil shipments as Alberta looks for ways to move oil sands crude with pipeline projects stalled or cancelled. CN serves Prince Rupert on B.C.B次元官网网址檚 North Coast, an increasingly busy route with lumber, grain and other commodities, and is planning extended sidings and other work to handle more long freight trains.
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James Auld, CN senior manager of product development and project lead for the B次元官网网址淐anapuxB次元官网网址� project, said the test of bulk shipping is to show that the polymer product can handle high-speed, high-volume handling.
B次元官网网址淭hen itB次元官网网址檚 up to the industry to adopt the product, and weB次元官网网址檒l be standing by to move as many carloads as we possibly can,B次元官网网址� Auld said.
The process starts with blending polymer with the oil, then encasing it in containers of the same plastic, which can be extracted and reused.
An earlier technology tested at the University of Calgary made pellets out of bitumen by extracting the lighter petroleum. The so-called B次元官网网址渘eatbitB次元官网网址� process reverses the industry standard technique of adding diluent, a liquid byproduct from natural gas wells, that allows heavy oil to be shipped in pipelines or conventional rail tankers.
While the pellets on their own can be used to make asphalt pavement, lighter petroleum would have to be shipped in and added in order to feed a heavy oil refinery.
Alberta already has four refineries and four upgraders to process bitumen, and Premier Rachel Notley has issued an invitation for proposals to build more. Notley has also announced plans for Alberta to buy more conventional oil tanker cars, as court disputes grind on over the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from Alberta to its only shipping terminal at Burnaby.
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Black Press publisher David Black wrote to Notley this month to pitch his Kitimat Clean project, arguing that only a coastal refinery is a viable way to add to the provinceB次元官网网址檚 capacity to export refined fuels.
B次元官网网址淯nfortunately the refinery cannot be located inland,B次元官网网址� wrote Black, who has developed a new generation refinery design that could be supplied with heavy crude by rail or pipeline from AlbertaB次元官网网址檚 oil sands. B次元官网网址淭he capital cost to build a large, brand-new refinery inland is so high that it is never economically viable. That is why all major export refineries in the world are located on an ocean coast.B次元官网网址�
Machinery modules are being imported from Asia to build the LNG Canada processing facility at Kitimat, and a similar approach is taken for new oil refineries around the world.
tfletcher@blackpress.ca
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