Water Treatment Technologies Chosen for Hangingstone Oil Sands SAGD Project

Athabasca Oil Corp have recently awarded GE (USA) with the contract to design and supply them with an integrated evaporator system. This system will be for the 12,000 barrels a day produced at Hangingstone oil sands operation located in Alberta, Canada.

GE's produced water evaporation process will help to offer reliable treatment of produced water from the Canadian facility's steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process. This system will recover 97% of the produced water fed into the system as boiler feedwater.

“The demand for innovative water treatment technologies that lessen the environmental impact of production facilities while improving project economics continues to increase. We have pioneered and optimised the utilisation and efficiency of evaporators and crystallisers in oil sands applications. We are proud to help meet the unique water needs of this industry,” said Bill Heins, general manager, thermal systems—water and process technologies for GE Power & Water.

This patented technology has become the favoured solution for SAGD projects in Canadian oil sands. It can help reduce water consumption and disposal which in turn reduces the environmental footprint and improve operating efficiencies.

Athabasca’s Hangingstone project exemplifies the growing trend of using produced water evaporation systems for greenfield SAGD projects, due in part to the economic and environmental benefits offered by evaporators and drum boilers compared to traditional water treatment and once-through, steam-generation technologies. With the addition of GE’s proprietary contaminant reduction system, the technology can produce a high-quality distillate suitable for use as feedwater for high-pressure drum boilers.

GE will be providing Athabasca with two evaporator units, which will include GE’s split sump design for enhanced energy efficiency. The system also will incorporate GE’s fifth-generation module design to meet the customer’s need for an enhanced project schedule and cost certainty. GE will deliver the equipment to the site in the third quarter of 2013 with commercial operation expected to begin in 2014.