Bitumen Value Enhanced Committee

The Bitumen Value Enhancement Committee accelerates innovation and technology commercialization targeting processing of bitumen and heavy oil.

The development of technologies for bitumen upgrading requires long-term industry-government partnership and continuous efforts to identify opportunities and barriers.  

The Bitumen Value Enhancement Committee (BVEC) works to accelerate innovation and technology commercialization targeting processing of bitumen and heavy oil to increase overall resource value, enhance market access, and improve overall economics.  

Formerly operating as the National Partial Upgrading Committee (NPUC), BVEC has a broad interest in technologies to enhance the value of bitumen, including partial upgrading to reduce diluent for pipeline transportation, enhancing the quality of bitumen-derived crude oils, and generating feedstocks for non-combustion products. New technologies must also reduce life cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts and minimize waste.  

BVEC is directed toward this effort, offering a forum for oilsands producers and government agencies to share information, technology opportunities, and to develop studies on topics of common interest. BVEC organizes workshops and in-depth reports on the science, technology, policy requirements, and market opportunities for bitumen. 

Resources

Turner, Mason & Company: Study of Market Value of Partially Upgraded Bitumen

Jacobs Consultancy: Bitumen Partial Upgrading 2018 Whitepaper

Contacts

Murray Gray, PhD, FCAE

Senior Technical Advisor

587-779-2908

Workshop on advances in bitumen processing  – May 26, 2022 

Workshop objectives 

  1. Inform NPUC members and the Alberta research community on new directions in basic science and emerging technologies for more selective upgrading of bitumen, including: 
  2. Selective pathways for sulfur and metals removal 
  3. Processing without addition of hydrogen 
  4. Inform researchers of industry needs and new new directions in bitumen processing for both fuels and materials production. 
Presentation title  Presenter 
Workshop opening and background  Murray Gray (Alberta Innovates) 
Panel discussion on industry perspectives  Nester Zerpa (Consultant) 
Panel discussion on industry perspectives  Nick Garner (CNRL) 
Methane assisted catalytic conversion of bitumen  Dr. Zhaofei Li (University of Calgary) 
A mild catalyst approach to reducing diluent requirements  Jacob Gibson (Nextstream Heavy Oil) 
Electrocatalytic up-cycling of asphaltenes  Jeff Stryker (University of Alberta) 
Aggregation mechanism of model polyaromatic compounds – an investigation combined experimental and computational studies  Jason Zhang (Birmingham University) 
Heteroatomic and aromatic chemistries direct the production of water-soluble pollutants from fossil fuels  Martha Chacon-Patino (Florida State University) and Christopher Rüger (University of Rostock) 
Understanding the asphaltene molecular composition and application for production of carbon fibres  Martha Chacon-Patino (Florida State University) 
Enhanced representation of thermal cracking chemistry in the context of bitumen partial upgrading  Anton Alvarez-Majmutov (ANMET Energy Devon) 
Poster title  Presenter 
Evolved gas analysis with advanced mass spectrometric detection for the molecular description of heavy petroleum fractions  Christopher P. Rüger, Anika Neumann, Lukas Friederici, Thorsten Streibel, & Ralf Zimmermann (University of Rostock) 
Electrocatalytic up-cycling of asphaltenes  Jeff Stryker (University of Alberta) 
Methane assisted catalytic conversion of bitumen – Withdrawn  Dr. Zhaofei Li (University of Calgary) 
Enhanced representation of thermal cracking chemistry in the context of bitumen partial upgrading  Anton Alvarez-Majmutov (CANMET Energy Devon) 
A mild catalyst approach to reducing diluent requirements – Withdrawn  Jacob Gibson (Nextstream Heavy Oil) 
Interfacial behaviors and interaction mechanisms of asphaltenes  Hongbo Zeng (University of Alberta) 
Interfacial micro and macro rheology of fractionated asphaltenes  Giovanniantonio Natale (University of Calgary) 
Direct contact hot water (DCHW) for mined bitumen process  Lijun Wu (CANMET Energy Ottawa)