#863: C-FER Enhanced Geothermal May Improve SAGD

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Brandon Curkan is a research engineer with C-FER Technologies under Alberta Innovates.

His work on enhanced geothermal systems to produce electricity has great potential to improve operations in the oil sands, particularly with SAGD or steam assisted gravity drainage systems.

BRANDON CURKAN:  In that, what we’re doing is we’re drilling a pair of wells, and in one of the wells we are injecting steam to heat up the reservoir and mobilize the bitumen.  And then we’re producing the colder fluid.  That’s exactly geothermal, just done in reverse.  In geothermal you’re producing a steam and then injecting a colder fluid and doing that kind of in a closed loop. So we’ve done this in a way in Alberta and Canada, but a little bit differently.   So the expertise and  technology that we’ve developed to tackle some of the challenges that come up with this, they can be applied to the geothermal industry.  

Brandon Curkan believes the expertise developed in Alberta for Enhanced Geothermal Systems can be exported to improve geothermal power operations in markets like California, Iceland and New Zealand.

Thanks today to ALBERTA INNOVATES

Learn more at Innovation Anthology

I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Alberta Innovates

Alberta Innovates is a provincially funded Corporation with a mandate to deliver 21st century solutions for the most compelling challenges facing Albertans. We do this by building on our province’s research and technology development strengths in the core sectors of health, environment, energy, food and fibre and platforms such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and omics. We are working with our partners to diversify Alberta’s economy, improve our environmental performance and enhance our well-being through research and innovation. 

The Alberta Innovates system has roots stretching back almost 90 years

In March, 2016 the consolidation of Alberta Innovates was announced and on November 1, a single, integrated innovation powerhouse, Alberta Innovates, was formed. Two applied research subsidiaries – Innotech Alberta and C-Fer Technologies –  serve public and private sector interests.

The Alberta Innovates system was first created in January 2010, as part of an overall innovation framework developed within the Alberta Research and Innovation Act. At that time, four corporations were established:

  • Bio Solutions
  • Energy and Environment Solutions
  • Health Solutions
  • Technology Futures.

The Alberta Innovates system has a 90-year legacy. Our expertise is built on the successes of:

  • Alberta Institute for Agriculture
  • Forestry and the Environment
  • Alberta Agricultural Research Institute
  • Alberta Forestry Research Institute
  • Alberta Life Sciences Institute
  • Alberta Ingenuity
  • Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research
  • Alberta Research Council
  • iCORE
  • nanoAlberta
  • Alberta Water Research Institute (AWRI)
  • Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI)
  • Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority (AOSTRA).

 

Program Date: 2017-04-27