Helping to reduce emissions at advanced, low-carbon refinery in Canada!

Industry experience, expertise, and technology innovation drove selection for multi million dollar automation project in western Canada

Canada’s North West Redwater Partnership has selected Emerson Process Management to provide automation services and technology for the first phase of the innovative Sturgeon refinery northeast of Edmonton, Alberta,  (CDN). Expected value of the contract to Emerson is approximately US$86 million (€67 million).

An artist’s rendering of the Sturgeon Refinery project (Edmonton Journal)

The Sturgeon facility will capture carbon dioxide emissions and sell them to traditional oil extraction operations, which will inject the carbon dioxide into wells under pressure to enhance extraction before permanently storing the gas in the wells. This approach is expected to reduce emissions by 1.2 million tons per year from the first phase of the refinery while also generating income for North West Redwater.

The new facility will also use technologies designed for cleaner refining, including elimination of petroleum coke, a waste product typical of traditional refining.

North West Redwater chose Emerson to automate the Sturgeon refinery based on its experience in similar refining processes, as well as its technologies and expertise that can help reduce project costs, reduce schedule risk, and increase process availability.

As the main automation contractor, Emerson will manage the automation of the refinery including providing engineering, configuration, start-up, training, commissioning support, and other services.

The automation solution for the project will include its DeltaV™ distributed control system and DeltaV SIS safety instrumented system to control and monitor operations. Both systems include Emerson’s innovative Electronic Marshalling technology with characterisation modules (CHARMs), which greatly simplifies connections between the control system and the thousands of instruments throughout the plant.

The automation solution will also include the company’s Rosemount® transmitters, Fisher® control valves, and Micro Motion® flowmeters to carry out essential measurement and control functions.

“This is one of several large automation projects we’re executing in western Canada,” said Steve Sonnenberg, president of Emerson Process Management. “We look forward to being a part of this truly cutting-edge carbon-reduction process while also supporting the conversion of non-traditional energy sources to cleaner fuel.”

• North West Redwater Partnership is a 50/50 partnership between North West Upgrading, Inc. and Canadian Natural Upgrading Limited (CNUL), a subsidiary of Canadian Natural Resources Limited. The $8.5 billion (€6.62 billion) first phase of the Sturgeon refinery project, which is expected to be complete by September 2017, will process 50,000 barrels per day of bitumen into primarily ultra-low-sulphur diesel fuel. The facility has regulatory approval to process up to 150,000 barrels per day of bitumen.