Abstract
Oil sands had not received enough attention due to high production cost. However, as oil price significantly increases, oil sands are receiving more and more interest as unconventional crude oil. The value and applicability of oil sands can be enhanced by upgrading oil sands bitumen to produce synthetic crude oil (SCO). This study analyzed 213 oil sands upgrading patents applied between 1969 and 2006 in US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and Korea. The upgrading technologies could be classified into 9 detailed technologies; hydrocracking, coking, thermal cracking, deasphalting, supercritical technology, bio-technology, hydrotreating, gasification, and others. The number of patents applied for oil sands upgrading increased after 1970, reached a maximum in the early 1980, and slowly increases again in recent years. Korea has a lack of technologies for oil sands. Therefore, the technologies for oil sands production and application, specially, upgrading technologies based on accumulated oil refinery technologies need to be developed to increase self-development ratio of energy resource.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 592-599 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of the Korean Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 6 |
Publication status | Published - 2008 Dec |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bitumen
- Oil sands
- Patent analysis
- Upgrading technology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- General Chemical Engineering