PCC’s Evolving Role in Sustainable North American Energy Security
ExxonMobil’s large-scale laboratory apparatus fabricated by PCC can recreate geologic and reservoir conditions to test new bitumen recovery methods.
One of the key aspects of American initiatives to reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy is development and recovery of usable hydrocarbons from North American resources. Bitumen, also referred to as heavy oil, currently exists in some locations in reservoirs too thin to be extracted economically with existing technology. PCC manufactured several pressure vessels for ExxonMobil’s use in researching new approaches to recover bitumen from these reservoirs.
These innovative recovery approaches have the potential to extract the bitumen without the use of either steam or heat and to recover a far higher percentage of bitumen than is currently possible. By minimizing the use of steam and heat, these new methods could significantly reduce energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Laboratory tests and numerical modeling by ExxonMobil have yielded encouraging results for the future application of these technologies.
(Ref. ExxonMobil’s “2008 Financial & Operating Review”, p. 24)