摘要：The magnitude of Canada's oil sands reserves, their rapidly expanding and energy
intensive production, combined with existing and upcoming greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions regulations motivate an evaluation of oil sands-derived fuel production
from a life cycle perspective. Thirteen studies of GHG emissions associated with
oil sands operations are reviewed. The production of synthetic crude oil (SCO)
through surface mining and upgrading (SM&Up) or in situ and upgrading (IS&Up)
processes is reported to result in emissions ranging from 62 to 164 and 99 to
176 kgCO2eq/bbl SCO, respectively (or 9.2–26.5 and
16.2–28.7 gCO2eq MJ−1 SCO, respectively),
compared to 27–58 kgCO2eq/bbl (4.5–9.6 gCO2eq MJ−1) of crude for conventional oil production. The difference in emissions intensity between
SCO and conventional crude production is primarily due to higher energy requirements for
extracting bitumen and upgrading it into SCO. On a 'well-to-wheel' basis, GHG emissions
associated with producing reformulated gasoline from oil sands with current SM&Up,
IS&Up, and in situ (without upgrading) technologies are 260–320, 320–350, and
270–340 gCO2eq km−1, respectively,
compared to 250–280 gCO2eq km−1 for production from conventional oil. Some variation between studies is expected due to
differences in methods, technologies studied, and operating choices. However, the
magnitude of the differences presented suggests that a consensus on the characterization of
life cycle emissions of the oil sands industry has yet to be reached in the public literature.
Recommendations are given for future studies for informing industry and government
decision making.
