GE P&W SAGD Water Evaporators User Manual

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GEA17906_SAGD_Brochure.doc Jun-13

Capability

Profile

Connacher Oil & Gas Great Divide Project,
Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Approx. 900 gpm feed, 2007

Petro Canada Mackay River,
Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada,
Approx. 165 gpm feed, 2002

Treatment of Heavy Oil Produced Water Using
Evaporation and Zero Discharge Technology

Proven Global Experience

GE Water & Process Technologies (GE) is the pioneer
and an industry leader in produced water evaporation
and crystallization systems, having developed its pa­tented high pH evaporation technology in the late
1990s and optimized its evaporation and crystalliza­tion technologies over the past 10 years. With 20
evaporators, crystallizers, and dryers installed or under
construction at heavy–oil, in-situ thermal production
facilities in the Alberta Oil Sands alone, GE continues to
lead the way in the safe and reliable treatment of pro­duced water and OTSG (once-through steam genera­tor) blowdown for boiler feed water and/or Zero Liquid
Discharge (ZLD). High pH evaporation is the only com­mercially proven and the most cost-effective thermal
solution for the treatment of produced water in heavy
oil recovery processes.

Superior Distillate Quality Provides
Reliable Operation of Drum Boilers

GE evaporators
employ a pro­prietary Con­taminant Re­duction System
for the produc­tion of superior
distillate quality,
enabling effi­cient and relia­ble operation of
high-pressure
(>1,000 psig)
drum boilers.
When coupled
with GE’s high pH evaporator design, this internal sys­tem enables produced water evaporators to generate
distillate that is four to five times better than evapora­tors operating with external vapor washers. The Con­taminant Reduction System is self-cleaning, protects
against foaming events, and produces no additional

waste compared to an external vapor washer. In the
Alberta Oil Sands, GE has supplied six produced wa­ter evaporators to provide distillate for drum boilers
on SAGD (Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage) applica­tions and four evaporators that provide distillate for
OTSGs.

Improving on a Proven Technology

With an advanced re­search and development
program and abundant
experience from several
commercially operating
produced water evapo­rator systems, GE con­tinues to optimize and
improve upon its high pH
evaporation technology.

Some recent optimiza­tions include:

• More than 50% re-

duction in caustic
consumption, result­ing in low chemical and operating costs com­pared to other produced water evaporative tech­nologies

• Elimination of scale inhibitor, further reducing

chemical costs and producing evaporator blow­down that is easily post treated prior to deep well
injection

• Cascade and split-sump evaporator designs

providing lower capital costs and improving en­ergy efficiency

• An internal Contaminant Reduction System for

superior distillate quality and reliable operation of
high-pressure (>1,000 psig) drum boilers

• In-situ chemical cleaning to improve system

availability and maximize steam to field

Total Canada Joslyn Phase 2,
Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada,
Approx. 900 gpm feed, 2005

Suncor Firebag Stage 2,
Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada,
Approx. 3,000 gpm feed, 2005

Installation of a modular system at Connacher
Oil & Gas Great Divide Project

Fourth Generation Module Design
Maximizes Project Certainty and
Minimizes Total Installed Cost

Understanding that cost and schedule certainty are of
the utmost importance for heavy oil producers, GE of­fers completely modularized evaporator and crystalliz­er systems.

The fourth Generation Module Design leverages expe­rience and optimizations from the design and supply
of 14 modularized evaporators and crystallizers on
seven Oil Sands projects. GE scope includes everything
from the anchor bolts up with tight-spooled piping and
easy-to-install bolt connections. Equipment modules
are pre-assembled to the fullest extent possible and
pre-fitted prior to shipment, thereby reducing fieldwork
and maximizing project certainty. The owners of the
two most recently installed projects reported total in­stalled cost factors of 2.0 and 1.8, indicating $0.80 to
$1.00 in installation costs for every $1.00 in equipment
costs. These total installed cost factors are among the
lowest in the industry and include all applicable cost
components, such as:

• Complete installation of the evaporator/crystallizer

system, including civils, site grading, gravel, foun­dations, piles, mechanical, electrical, I&C, etc.

• A proportional fraction of indirect costs such as

camps, accommodations, subsistence, shop in­spections, field inspections, programming, freight,
cranes, start-up assistance, fencing, start-up
equipment, communications hardware, offices,
buildings, warehouse, and back-up generators

• A proportional fraction of engineering, manage-

ment, and drafting.

Produced Water Evaporator
Blowdown Solutions

There are two common methods to treat or dispose
of produced water evaporator blowdown:

1. Deep well injection — The recent optimizations

to the high pH produced water evaporation pro­cess result in a safe and straightforward post­treatment process prior to disposal.

2. Zero Liquid Discharge — Crystallization of high

pH evaporator blowdown results in waste slurry
of mixed salts, silica, and organics. This waste
slurry is unique to produced water applications.
GE has five crystallizers operating or under con­struction in the Alberta Oil Sands and is highly
experienced in handling this unique waste
stream. A drying or solidification/stabilization
process treats the waste slurry for final disposal
in a landfill.

a. Drying—A proven method of waste slurry

treatment that results in a dry, free-flowing
solid residual for disposal in a lined landfill.

b. Solidification / Stabilization—An alternate to

drying, S/S is a simple and environmentally
friendly way to treat crystallizer waste as it
produces a stable, non-leachable solid for dis­posal in standard landfills, which addresses
the concerns associated with long-term liabil­ity of residuals disposal.

Page 2 Capability Profile