Shell’s Scotford Refinery is a ground-breaking operation, so it stands to reason that using new technology to inspect and maintain it was the next obvious step.
In late 2015, Shell and its partners opened the historic Quest carbon capture and storage (CCS) project as part of the bitumen upgrader at Scotford, near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.
It was the first CCS facility in oil sands history.
One year later, the Quest storage facility had captured one million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). By the beginning of 2017, the refinery had increased its production capacity by 20 per cent through improvements to its hydrocracking process.
Now, the focus of Scotford’s staff is to keep an even closer eye on its operations.
Part of the strategy involves the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). In December, Shell launched a pilot training program to operate the drones, which Shell believes have the potential to increase safety and improve maintenance.
Pilots can fly the camera-equipped UAVs to areas of the site where people have previously had to climb scaffolds or use cranes to survey the refinery.
“We’re leveraging new and existing technologies to be able to develop a new way of working,” said Cindy Jamieson, digitalization lead for Shell.
“So, where we used to send people up in a crane, or erect scaffolding to go and see conditions or our systems, we can now send up a drone to do that.”
In May 2017, Shell used a drone to inspect a piece of equipment measuring 90 metres. Previously, it could not be inspected until the facility was shut down and, even then, the equipment could only be viewed briefly and repairs had to be made quickly.
Drone images allow for closer inspection, which makes it easier to do repairs right the first time and avoid ordering unneeded parts.
“With drones, we’re able to go up and take pictures of equipment operating live, assess the status, and work with vendors to show them pictures to come up with a condition-based maintenance strategy,” said David Shah, fired equipment lead.
The Scotford Refinery drones are just another way Canadian Fuels members are using technology to improve operations and keep people safe.
