Words of hope: progress on oil extraction from tar sands

[begreen]

This is a report on some promising results of work by Penn State on extracting oil from tar sands, shales, etc. with low environmental impact.

The report:
(broken link removed to http://live.psu.edu/story/52088)

and a video:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FleckMatse#p/u/1/U8NQ8Uj232w

 

[PapaDave]

Nice find BG.
Very interesting and promising, work.

 

[Jags]

I'm like'in the sounds of that.

 

[midwestcoast]

Pretty interesting. That method could save huuuge amounts of natural gas and water used to seperate oil from the tar sands currently. That's a game changer from cost perspective. And from the photos & impact analyses of the massive wastewater lakes up in Alberta I'd say any way to reduce volume & toxicity of the wastewater is a big help. I wouldn't go so far as to say this would make tar sands extraction low impact though. It still needs to be dug out, oil extracted, replaced and the product requires more processing than other oil. Then the GH gasses from combustion...
I wonder if they'll figure out how to do something like that in-situ so all the sand/shale stays in place & the hydrocarbons can be piped out like reg oil wells...

 

[begreen]

I wonder if they'll figure out how to do something like that in-situ so all the sand/shale stays in place & the hydrocarbons can be piped out like reg oil wells...

That's an interesting thought.

 

[btuser]

Sounds like a good time to invade Venezuela!

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If this can be ramped up on a large scale Canada should be all over this,sounds too simple though as if "why hasn't someone at the oil company thought of this already?

 

['bert]

Looks promising, would be nice to see a large production model. I wonder if sea water could be used and avoid the use of fresh water altogether. Just need to get some ocean frontage up here in the 'bert.

 

[woodchip]

I like the idea, not just for oil extraction from tar sands, but for helping cleanups after disasters at sea.