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GAIA Host Collective
They claim to have a "proven, patented and low-cost way to upgrade bitumen without using natural gas." If true, wouldn't they be a great investment? They're publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Their website, opticanada.com, says that they're developing an oil sands project in a 50/50 joint venture with Nexen.
To me, the drawbacks are: first, they're a start-up which isn't operating yet. There's a lot of construction still to go, so they could have big cost overruns. Second, they need to raise more money to provide their share of the construction costs. Thus, current shareholders could get diluted if new investors got better terms.
Basically they are getting the hydrogen needed using some of the heavier fractions of the tar, some to burn to give the required energy input, some to react with water to give syngas for the hydrocracking of the lighter fractions.
This lowers the yield and increases the cabon dioxide emitted per unit of sythetic crude produced but does eliminate the need for natural gas and does not produce the solid carbon produced by coking, the processes that raise the hydrogen/carbon ratio by removing carbon rather than adding hydrogen.