Japan Develops New Technology to Efficiently Utilize Oil Sand to Extract Gasoline
A research team from Kyoto University in Japan has unveiled a groundbreaking innovation that significantly improves the efficiency of fuel extraction from oil sands. By using affordable iron ore as a catalyst, their new method boosts the yield of gasoline and other liquid fuels by approximately 40% compared to traditional techniques.
Oil sands, also known as tar sands, are a complex mixture of clay, water, bitumen, and sand. They resemble thick black molasses and have long been considered a potential source of liquid fuels. However, their low utilization rate has limited their widespread use.
Currently, extracting crude oil from oil sands involves injecting high-pressure steam underground to separate the bitumen from the sand. After refining, only about 50% of the total mass is converted into usable fuels like gasoline and diesel. The remaining material—ultra-heavy oil—is typically difficult to process and often discarded or used for low-value applications.
The new technology developed by Professor Koichi Miura's team at Kyoto University addresses this issue. By introducing iron ore into the reaction vessel and heating it to around 420°C, the iron oxide acts as a catalyst, breaking down the ultra-heavy oil into valuable fuels. This process increases the yield of gasoline and diesel to nearly 70%, making oil sands a more viable energy source.
Most oil sands are found in Canada and Venezuela, but their high production costs and inefficiencies have hindered large-scale adoption. The new method uses inexpensive iron ore and simple equipment, drastically reducing overall costs and making the process more economically feasible.
Additionally, this technology can repurpose the heavy oil left over after refining, which is usually only suitable for industrial boilers or ship fuel. Now, even this residue can be transformed into useful transportation fuels.
The researchers are now looking to partner with oil and steel companies to test and implement the technology on a larger scale. Their goal is to make this innovation practical and widely applicable in the near future. (Reporter: Lan Jianzhong)
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