Case Studies

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Oil Sands

Oil sands block models are typically populated with geological properties such as facies designation and physical properties such as bitumen concentration, average particle size (D50) and fines concentration. In an effort to deliver consistent feed to the extraction circuit, mining operations attempt to blend ores based on these physical properties. However, these properties alone are not necessarily the strongest influences on extraction circuit performance. It is generally accepted that many other characteristics of the ore such as the chemical components (pH, Ca, K, Mg, etc) and the mineralogy (MBI, etc) combine with the other known factors to influence the overall performance. Better understanding of the interaction of these factors and the degree of influence these factors have on the extraction circuit is critical to improving the overall process. This understanding can help refine the control strategy needed to reduce future plant upsets and improve the recovery process…

Sinopec

 

Sinopec Corp. is the largest producer of oil products in China. In 2004, the company processed 132.95 million tons of crude oil and produced 80.83 million tons of oil products. Key products include gasoline, kerosene, diesel, chemical light oil, fuel oil, solvent oil, petroleum wax, petroleum coke, propylene and benzene products for refining…After careful consideration Sinopec chose Pattern Discovery’s Production Intelligence (PI) solution and expert analysis services. The overall goal is to provide SRCC with a system that will take advantage of historical plant data, integrating it with real-time data to establish a view into plant performance. This will allow operators, engineers and plant managers to gain a better understanding of the key factors that impact performance and initiate improvement measures.