CANMET Energy Technology Centre - Devon (CETC-Devon) and National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT)

The CANMET Energy Technology Centre (CETC) - Devon is the federal government's primary research group for the development of hydrocarbon supply technologies and related environmental technologies, with an emphasis on oil sands and heavy oil.

Eligibility Criteria

CETC - Devon serves a diverse client base in industry and government. The oil sands and heavy oil industry is the primary industrial client; the natural gas and conventional oil industries are also important clients. Besides the major companies in the energy sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an important focus of CETC - Devon's S&T activities, particularly in the related services sectors and the areas of environmental technologies and engineering specialties. These firms tend to have limited internal research capability and rely on CETC - Devon as an S&T performer. CETC - Devon is also an important local employer, providing more than 100 jobs in Devon and regularly hiring students from Canadian universities.

Summary

CETC - Devon conducts fee-for-service, cost-shared, and task-shared S&T activities and performs exploratory, public-good research in strategic areas such as environmental technologies. By developing hydrocarbon technologies that use less energy and have less environmental impact, CETC - Devon is helping to ensure that Canada's oil industry is a sustainable, environmentally responsible contributor to our energy supply.

CETC - Devon is comprised of two S&T groups: Advanced Separation Technologies (AST) and the National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT), delivering a range of S&T programs consistent with energy efficiency and sustainable development.

Advanced Separation Technologies (AST)
Advanced Separation Technologies (AST) combines a world-class research and development facility with first-rate scientists and engineers. AST conducts fundamental and applied research to develop and implement leading-edge multiphase separation technologies for the petroleum and environmental industries.

Employing a multi-disciplinary team approach, AST's focus is to find solutions for industrial science and technology problems. This approach is based on a fundamental understanding of the principles governing industrial processes and is enhanced by strategic partnerships and collaborative initiatives with industry, educational institutions, governments, and the scientific community.

The facility, located in Devon, Alberta, includes a wide range of equipment and sophisticated instruments at various scales: laboratory, bench, pilot and field. For example, pilot plants found on-site are fully operational and being used, jointly with industry, to assess breakthrough technologies in heavy oil processing.

Many emerging technologies derived from the research being conducted by AST are transferable to other industries. AST champions research and development initiatives that offer Albertan and Canadian companies competitive advantages in the world marketplace.

National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT)
The National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT) is a Canada-Alberta heavy oil upgrading research alliance. Formed in 1995, NCUT provides independent research and technical services. Its staff's upgrading research and services play a vital role in the development of the heavy oil industry. Upgrading is the necessary step in changing oil sands bitumen from a black tar substance into a simulated conventional crude oil. Oil refineries then can process this changed bitumen into products such as transportation fuels.

NCUT is unique in Canada. The Centre uses its world-class expertise and facilities to work with oil companies, engineering firms, and technology licensors to solve problems encountered in their processing units. NCUT's work is industry-driven, focusing on the energy industry's most pressing needs: to reduce the capital, operating, and environmental costs of upgrading bitumen and heavy oil, and to improve the quality of transportation fuels produced from synthetic crude oil.

In order to help sustain the bitumen bubble, NCUT focuses on three goals:

• make bitumen upgrading and refining attractive in Canada;
• fit bitumen into the future refineries; and
• get bitumen to the upgraders and refiners.

Major Areas of Expertise
NCUT's world-class team of scientists and engineers is backed by state-of-the-art process equipment ranging from autoclaves to pilot plant scale, continuous distillation, and slurry hydrocracking/hydrotreating units. A full range of ASTM, CGSB, and API analytical tests of pilot plant and refinery product streams is available. NCUT continually develops and tests new analytical protocols, maintaining its position as a world leader in heavy oil characterization. NCUT services are backed by applied in-house research programs networked to company research centres and universities worldwide.

Doing business with NCUT is straightforward. Companies can interact with the Centre through any one of a variety of approaches that best suits their business needs. Past examples include straight contract for services, joint project work, one-on-one projects, and multi-company consortia. In addition, NCUT has experience directing clients to the funding programs available for doing research and development in Canada.

New Brunswick Contact(s):
See National Contact.

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National Contact(s):
Mr. Hassan Hamza
Director General
CANMET Energy Technology Centre - Devon
Natural Resources Canada
1 Oil Patch Drive, Suite A202
Devon, Alberta  T9G 1A8
Telephone: 780-987-8614 (CETC-Devon); 780-987-8656 (NCUT); 780-987-8617 (AST)
Fax: 780-987-8690
TTY (hearing impaired): 613-996-4397
E-mail: andersen@nrcan.gc.ca
Web site: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cwrc/English/home_e.html

Mr. D. Bruce Stewart
Director
CANMET Energy Technology Centre - Devon
Natural Resources Canada
1 Oil Patch Drive, Suite A202
Devon, Alberta  T9G 1A8
Telephone: 780-987-8614
Fax: 780-987-8690
TTY (hearing impaired): 613-996-4397
E-mail: bstewart@nrcan.gc.ca
Web site: http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/etb/cwrc/English/home_e.html