(UtiliPoint.com - May 10, 2006)
 

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May 10, 2006

By Bob Bellemare, President and CEO

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is getting a bad image because man-made emissions are suspected of contributing to rising global temperatures. But CO2 has many unique properties which are being used to improve industrial processes such as extracting oil. Squeezing Out Oil

This week Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) announced that it was partnering with CF Technologies to combine its radio frequency (RF) technology with CF's critical fluid technology for extracting oil from shale. U.S. shale reserves are estimated at two trillion barrels but those reserves remain untapped because there is a lack of an economic and environmentally friendly method for extracting oil from shale. The Raytheon-CF technology hopes to change that. Company officials believe they can now feasibility extract oil from shale and tar sands as well as additional oil from marginal or retired wells.

The technology works by first heating shale using RF. According to Lee Silvestre, Director, Mission Innovation, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, by using RF technology the shale can be heated to a suitable temperature within one to two months compared to the years it would take using other means. “Not only is the process more efficient but it may allow energy companies to earn returns much quicker than conventional technologies,” Silvestre said.

Once the shale is heated, the CO2 can go to work. Pumped down into the well at over 70 atmospheres, the CO2 is in a “supercritical” state which means it has properties of both a liquid and a gas. At these pressures the CO2 will act as a solvent, squeezing out the oil. The CO2-oil combination is then brought to the surface where it is depressurized, separating the oil as the CO2 once again becomes a gas at the reduced pressure while the oil remains a liquid. The CO2 is then re-pressurized and sent back down the well to start the process all over again. The recycling of the CO2 and the use of a non-toxic substance (CO2) makes the process environmentally benign.

Raytheon and CF are now looking for energy partners to help commercialize the technology. John Moses, CEO of CF Technologies explains, “This system has been successfully tested at a laboratory scale. Based on these tests we believe high extraction efficiencies are possible. We are not an oil company so we are now looking for partners to do a field test of this promising technology.”

Other methods for using CO2 in the oil business are already in use. CO2 is used in conventional oil wells for oil extraction and to maintain pressure within a formation. The process is known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and can increase oilfield output by up to 60 percent and extend well life by 20 years.

And last year an experimental project in Canada to inject carbon dioxide into oil fields proved successful. The project was a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Energy Department (DOE), the Canadian government and private industry. Carbon dioxide was piped from the Great Plains Synfuels plant in Beulah, N.D., where it is a byproduct from coal gasification, to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan, Canada. The CO2 increased the pressure in the oil reservoir which increased the field's production by 10,000 barrels a day. If the methodology could be applied worldwide, from one-third to one-half of the carbon dioxide emissions that go into the atmosphere could be sequestered over the next century and billions of barrels of additional oil could be recovered according to the DOE.

Under Pressure

Pressurized CO2 has other beneficial uses besides recovering oil from the ground. For example, CO2 is also used to decaffeinate coffee beans. The coffee beans are first soaked in water which causes the grains to expand. Carbon dioxide is added under pressure at 100 atmospheres. The carbon dioxide attracts the caffeine molecules without impacting the carbohydrates and proteins of the coffee beans. The carbon dioxide is then captured, recycled, and the caffeine sold for other uses.

The coffee bean story is representative of the potential environmental benefits associated with using CO2 in place of other potentially hazardous solvents in industry. For decades methylene chloride was used to decaffeinate coffee. In the 1980s that chemical was suspected as being a carcinogen so major U.S. coffee companies stopped using it and replaced that chemical with other processes including CO2.

The environmental benefits of CO2 may soon be extending to the dry cleaning industry. Most clothes are dry-cleaned using "perc" (short for perchloroethylene), an organic solvent that replaced flammable, petroleum-based cleaning fluids. But perc is also considered toxic and around 1.5 million tons of it is used in North America alone. Enter CO2 cleaning. Cool Clean Technologies has developed a CO2 based clothes cleaning system. Clothes are put into a CO2 filled pressurized chamber where the CO2 goes to work on oils and other stains. Not only is process non-toxic but it also operates at a low temperature of 55 degrees which prevents the heat setting of stains.

CO2 is naturally occurring, non-toxic and non-flammable and is beginning to make its way into industrial applications, making those applications more environmentally benign and efficient. The need to pressurize CO2, however, is costly and certainly has limited its use to high value niches. But with soaring oil prices and growing concern over toxic solvents, CO2 may well find a major role in improving our environment.

So the next time you fill-up, you may well be buying CO2 extracted oil and grabbing a CO2 decaffeinated coffee latte. As you are driving along and spill the coffee on your shirt, pull into a CO2 cleaners and 35 minutes later they'll have your shirt looking like new. CO2 may well play an important role in making our world more efficient and less toxic.

©2006, UtiliPoint® International, Inc. All rights reserved.

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