Success Stories

Alberta's commitment to research has contributed to some significant technological developments in the energy sector in the last 20 years.

The following success stories are just a few examples of "home-grown" energy and environment technology that has made a real difference in Alberta and throughout the world.

Working Together for Tailings Excellence

The 2001 Thickened Tailings Field Trial (Paste Technology) is a great government-industry collaborative success story. This tailings management improvement initiative was undertaken to advance the oil sands industry commitment to, and focus on, tailings management excellence. [read more]

Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD)

SAGD allows bitumen to be recovered from oil sands deposits that are impractical for surface mining and extraction methods, but are not deep enough for high-pressure steam techniques to work. [read more]

AOSTRA-Taciuk Process (ATP)

This technology features a dry-retorting process for extracting bitumen in surface mining operations. It involves moving oil sand through a rotating drum, cracking the bitumen with heat to get lighter hydrocarbons. [read more]

OSLO Cold Water Extraction (OCWE)

This technology separates bitumen from oil sands in surface-mining situations. The process does not use caustic to improve the bitumen extraction, and operates at ambient temperatures. [read more]

Bio Waste to Green Fuels

Using household garbage to produce cleaner burning fuels is a major leap forward in Alberta's commitment to alternatives to landfills and an integrated energy vision. In November 2006, the City of Edmonton committed to the development of a demonstration project at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. [read more]

Hydrocarbon Upgrading Demonstration Program (HUDP)

The main value of the HUDP program is that through government and industry sharing the cost and risk of developing new technology and new approaches, development is accelerated and results in earlier commercial adoption of new technologies and their deployment in the province and within industry. [read more]