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Commercialization History
Current
2018 / 2019
ENHANCED JETSHEAR REGIONAL HUB
Since the successful conclusion of the EJS commercial demonstration program in 2017, Fractal has been focused on the development of a commercial scale project to be located at a major pipeline hub in Alberta. Fractal has developed commercial relationships with producers, midstream companies, capital providers and government agencies to support the Enhanced JetShear Regional Hub project with an expected capacity of approximately 50,000 barrels per day of bitumen feed (70,000 – 75,000 bpd of diluted bitumen). Notable announcements include:
Government Grants
- On February 12, 2017, Fractal announced that Sustainable Development Technology Canada (“SDTC”) awarded Fractal funding of up to $7.2 million and Emissions Reduction Alberta (“ERA”) awarded Fractal up to $5 million in grants.
- The combined $12.2 million in grants will significantly support the pre-sanction spend profile to get to a Final Investment Decision or FID.
Producer Support
- On March 4, 2019 Fractal announced that it signed a non-binding term sheet with Cenovus Energy Inc. for supplying between 20,000 to 35,000 barrels per day of diluted bitumen (dilbit) on a long-term tolling basis for the Enhanced JetShear Regional Hub project.
- Cenovus publicly stated that the commercial demonstration met all of the operational and safety milestones and consistently demonstrated significant viscosity, density and acid reduction improvements.
2016 / 2017
ENHANCED JETSHEAR + ARP COMMERCIAL DEMONSTRATION
The positive field demonstration of JetShear led Fractal Systems and its partner to expand the JetShear Technology Platform to demonstrate increases in diluent displacement and reductions in acidity. The Commercial demonstration met or exceeded all of its key objectives, which included:
- Meeting processing objectives using the Enhanced JetShear™ and ARP configurations while maintaining 100% volumetric yield and reaching pipeline transportation specifications for viscosity and density;
- Achieving ambitious product quality targets (olefin content, acidity, diluent displacement, product stability and Greenhouse Gas Lifecycle benefits); and
- Ensuring facility operability and throughput expectations with zero safety or environmental incidents.
The Facility processed over 113,000 barrels of partially-diluted bitumen achieving up to 55% diluent displacement with the acid content (Total Acid Number or “TAN”) of the diluted bitumen (“Dilbit”) reduced by at least 60% to well below a TAN level equal to 1 mgKOH/g (one milligram of potassium hydroxide (KOH) per gram of oil sample).
2015
COMMERCIAL TEST COMPLETION
The 1,000 barrel per day facility operated for approximately one-year demonstrating long-term reliability with commercial scale nozzles. During this period, the facility processed over 100,000 barrels of partially diluted bitumen.
All key targets were met or exceeded and the demonstration was deemed a success by the partnership.
2015
SDTC AWARDS FRACTAL PARTNERSHIP
Fractal announced in March 2015 that Sustainable Development Technology Canada awarded $3.7 million to the partnership to field trial Enhanced JetShear and Acid Reduction Process (ARP).
2013 - 2014
COMMERCIAL DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Fractal Systems successfully completed the commercial demonstration phase of JetShear in April 2015. The 1,000 barrel per day facility commenced processing in April 2014 and operated for approximately one year. Partially diluted bitumen was trucked to the site near Provost, Alberta from SAGD projects in the Athabasca region that are operated by Fractal’s partner. The goal of the project was to (1) meet processing objectives with commercial size nozzles, (2) achieve desired nozzle life performance, (3) meet facility operability and throughput expectations with no safety or environmental incidents, and to (4) achieve certain product quality targets (product stability, HS content, acidity, and liquid yield).
2009 - 2010
PILOT FACILITY
Fractal validated the bench scale studies by processing diluted heavy oil in the field at a 300 barrel per day “Pilot Facility”. The field performance effectively demonstrated that the bench scale results could be “scaled up” (e.g. 300:1) in a field facility.
Pre-2009
BENCH SCALE FACILITY
Bench-scale studies using a 1 to 30 barrels of oil per day system that successfully demonstrated the potential of the technology on various crudes provided by Alberta oil producing companies.
Jetshear Starts Development