2009-02-25 - The National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT) is Canada-Alberta’s premier science and technology (S&T) organization for upgrading bitumen and heavy oil into synthetic crude oil.

Every three years since 1997, NCUT has organized a conference on new developments and challenges to utilize oil sands bitumen and extra heavy crudes, with a focus on the technical issues.

Since the last NCUT Conference in 2006, there has been significant expansion of the oil sands industry with respect to production and upgrading. The cost of production of crude from bitumen has increased dramatically in the last number of years, while at the same time increased global awareness of environmental issues is putting increasing pressure on the oil sands industry to reduce its environmental footprint (air, water and land). Nevertheless, the long term prospects for oil sands development remain intact, in part because of the secure nature and proved large size of the oil sands reserves.

The NCUT conference in 2009 will focus on the many existing and emerging technical solutions to help consolidate the position of these vast reserves as a sustainable and environmentally acceptable source of crudes for North America and other selected markets.

Technical topics will include:

• New technologies to reduce costs and environmental footprint, including those with a better fit with carbon capture and storage (CCS)
• Technologies to reduce dependence on natural gas for energy and hydrogen
• New catalysts and other developments to improve product marketability
• Impact of impurities and contaminants (asphaltenes, metals, naphthenic acids) on crude and product quality
• Desalter operation and emulsion breaking
• Fouling and corrosion issues
• Blending and compatibility issues

NCUT’s objectives for the conference are to:

• Bring together experts from industry, government organizations, universities and technology providers to discuss new developments in the area of upgrading of heavy oil, bitumen and synthetic crude oils
• Showcase new technologies and technology development
• Highlight any current or future issues and challenges that the industry may face
• Exchange ideas and views on research and development challenges

Future updates and details of the program will be posted on our Website as soon as available. The registration form can be downloaded now. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please contact us.

To learn more about our activities related to upgrading and refining, visit our Oil Sands section.