Japan’s Chubu Power Company revealed that the company has developed technology to process oil sands into liquid petroleum. As there are a lot of oil sand resources in the world, if this technology is adopted, the global oil recoverable reserves will double.
Due to the high viscosity of the oil sands and the high sulfur content, very few oil sand resources (eg Orimulsion) are currently used as fuel. However, the newly developed technology can help solve this problem through high pressure (22 megapascals) and high temperature (374 degrees celcius). Chubu Power Company, in cooperation with the National Institute of Environmental Studies, has successfully produced 1,000 kilograms (kinematic viscosity units) and 1.2% sulfur-containing fuel oil from the oil sands, and can further desulfurize. Chubu Electric Power Company plans to conduct a qualification test (30 litres per day) before March 2004 and strive to begin commercial production within a few years.