Brion Energy (formerly Dover Operating Corp.) selected GE’s produced water evaporation technologies for Phase 1 of the MacKay River Commercial Project (MRCP) near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. The MRCP will utilize a steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technique to responsibly produce bitumen, a type of heavy oil. By using GE’s produced water evaporation process, the project will recover 99% of the produced and makeup water fed to the plant for reuse as boiler feedwater. The MRCP has an ultimate design capacity of 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) that will be achieved across four phases with Phase 1 contributing the first 35,000 bpd.
The MRCP joins many other projects in the Canadian Oil Sands region to choose GE’s patented evaporative technology to treat and recycle its SAGD produced water. GE’s technology is helping producers minimize water consumption and comply with the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board regulations and directives pertaining to water use. This project is an example of the growing trend towards produced water evaporation on greenfield SAGD projects due, in part, to economic benefits offered by evaporators and drum boilers over traditional water treatment and once-through steam generation technologies. With the addition of GE’s proprietary contaminant reduction system, the produced water treatment system will produce a high-quality distillate suitable for use as feedwater to conventional drum boilers.
GE will be providing the MRCP with a complete produced water treatment and reduced liquid discharge system, including three primary evaporator units and one concentrator unit. The system will incorporate GE’s fifth generation module design for enhanced project certainty and reduced total installed cost. The equipment and modules will ship to the site in early 2014 with commercial operation scheduled for late 2014.
