You have likely heard the refrain, “There’s integrated and then there is Suncor Integrated” a lot recently. Paraffinic Froth Treatment, or PFT product, is often heralded as the poster child of this regional collaboration.
PFT is the process of treating bitumen at Fort Hills, in which the product is partially decarbonized. That results in a higher quality of bitumen that requires less diluent to be moved via pipeline and that can produce more valuable products when used as bitumen supply in the upgrading process.
This treated product also has a resulting emissions intensity that is similar to an average barrel refined in North America, on a full life-cycle basis.
“This technology produces a bitumen product that meets both pipeline specifications and marketability requirements,” says Samia Sarkar, Director of Fixed Plants, Oil Sands at Fort Hills. “It’s a fungible product, which means we can sell it direct to market and we get a premium for it due to it being a higher quality product.”
However, over the last two years Suncor has found another use for some of it: About 65,000 barrels of PFT per day can be sent to Base Plant when required, where it is used in Upgrader 2.
“When the PFT was put into the upgrader, what we found is it gives us a 5-7% higher yield,” said Sarkar. “That enhances the number of barrels we can get out of upgrading and those barrels of SCO crude get an even greater premium in the market. It’s a win-win proposition for Suncor.”
“Because it’s a higher quality feed, PFT actually produces less coke,” said Tom Day, General Manager Operations Primary Upgrading, referring to the less valuable, solid material produced in the Upgrading process. “As the Upgrader is often limited by the coke make, PFT allows us to produce more saleable product from the same amount of feed.”
In terms of just how much more can be produced, Thomas Thomas, Manager Contact Engineering, Upgrading says: “PFT is helping us to produce 4,000-5,000 barrels per day extra of Synthetic Crude Oil (SCO) without additional operating costs.”
Currently, PFT bitumen from Fort Hills can make up 10-20 percent of the feedstock going into the Base Plant upgrader. That addition solves even more issues: the PFT product fills any gaps in available feedstock and the steadier rates and operations help to improve the overall reliability of Suncor assets.
“In the past, if there is a shortage of feed, we would have had to underrun the upgrader,” explains Tom. “This is a lever that we can pull to keep the upgrader full. The more optionality in our feed sources, the more opportunities we have to keep the upgrader at higher utilization.”
A number of Suncor sites have reached record levels of production and throughput in recent quarters. This increased integration and flexibility between company assets are key to those better results. The increased integration also allows additional value in providing Suncor more options to process, move and sell different types of barrels for the most money.
“The PFT line connecting Fort Hills to Base Plant has provided us with a key lever for optimizing Suncor’s bitumen flows,” explains Sheldon Lo, Senior Commodity Marketer.
Sheldon strategically moves barrels between the various Suncor sites to sell those that fetch the highest prices.
“It provides us with the option to direct Fort Hills barrels away from the typical sales hub into our Upgrader where we have noticed an increase in Synthetic Crude Oil (SCO) production thanks to the de-asphalted nature of PFT,” says Sheldon.
That higher value SCO can then be sold instead at a higher price point.
As Suncor continues to integrate its vast footprint, PFT is a big part of a larger plan to maximize value, increase facility utilization, and ultimately lower costs.