Research on Risk Analysis and Control Measures of Oil Sands Bitumen Processing

Since the oil sands bitumen is an overweight crude oil with high acid and high sulfur content, there are higher risks and unpredictability throughout every link of the storage, processing, loading, etc. According to the characteristics of oil sands bitumen, the risks that may arise during processing, such as fire and explosion of light hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide poisoning, corrosion problems, environmental risks are analyzed and predicted in this paper. China National Offshore Oil Corp. Qingdao Heavy Oil Processing Engineering Research Center Co., Ltd, Qingdao Research Center for short, is the first refinery to process oil sands bitumen in China. Taking it for example, on the basis of present process units and processing flow, this paper determines the categories of pollutants, the emission characteristics and pollutant emissions during the processing of oil sands bitumen，draws plant sulfur distribution, and develops the hydrogen sulfide exposure levels and countermeasures according to post working properties. Besides, Qingdao Research Center transforms devices and facilities, optimizes operating parameters, real-time monitors the corrosion condition and atmospheric environment, harmlessly and cleanly treats the waste water, waste gas, and solid wastes. Through those measures, Qingdao Research Center successfully processes oil sands bitumen for the first time in China, ensuring the security of equipment and person, and providing references and scientific basis for optimizing design of engineering, safety management and environment management in oil sands bitumen processing enterprises.

Key words: oil sands bitumen; risk analysis; safety management