Instead, I'm looking at new ways to refine heavy oils while not using excess amounts of water and "Chinese Air"
Two Canadian companies have both made remarkable progress. Petrobank w/ its so called heel and toe process and Ivanhoe's HTL Technology
In early 2009, Ivanhoe Energy successfully commissioned the Feedstock Test Facility (FTF) in San Antonio, Texas, for its proprietary technology for field upgrading of heavy oil to light oil (HTL). The state-of-the-art HTL testing facility will be used to support detailed engineering and design of commercial-scale HTL plants for the Tamarack Project and Pungarayacu Project, and to test crudes associated with additional potential HTL projects.
During 2009, Ivanhoe Energy made significant technical improvements related to its proprietary HTL technology. The improvements were achieved through a new process configuration developed by an in-house technical team at the FTF. These improvements enable the production of "bottomless" synthetic crude oil through a simplified operation that delivers lower per-barrel capital and operating costs, and allows for larger volumes of crude to be processed in any given sized facility.
Ivanhoe Energy is decommissioning its Commercial Demonstration Facility in California and completion is planned for the second quarter of 2010. All future testing activities will be carried out at the FTF.
Ivanhoe Energy continues to pursue HTL business development opportunities globally, with an emphasis on creating value from stranded resources or resource accumulations considered too small to be economically viable using other technologies.