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Laboratory Grand Opening

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Grand Opening of the Laboratory at UMATAC’s Oil Shale/Oil Sands R&D Centre

September 9, 2011

UMATAC is proud to announce the official opening of the oil shale/oil sands research and development centre laboratory. With support from ThyssenKrupp Polysius, a significant investment has been made over the last year to strengthen and enhance UMATAC’s core technical services.

UMATAC recently relocated their pilot plant and bench scale testing equipment to a new location where significant engineering and investment was required to outfit a pre-existing commercial building with the essential infrastructure & utilities required to support a high technology research centre.

A completely new laboratory has been built into the R&D centre. The laboratory supports the integrated testing environment that allows UMATAC to fully assess candidate oil shale and oil sand ores and provide the information necessary for design and implementation of ATP Projects.

UMATAC’s laboratory capabilities have developed to meet the difficult analysis requirements imposed by oil sands and oil shale testing. Over the past 35 years UMATAC has analyzed a broad spectrum of feed materials which include oil shales, oil sands, coals, hydrocarbon contaminated soils, PCB/PAH contaminated soils, refinery and HPI wastes, styrene, and recycled rubbers.

UMATAC’s laboratory is not a certified laboratory for 3rd party analysis. The laboratory provides support to UMATAC and UMATAC’s clients when developing oil sands and oil shale projects. Capabilities include ore testing, modified Fischer assay testing (including analysis of the gas fraction by gas chromatography), D86 and D1160 oil distillations, oil density, solids bulk density, moisture content, solids particle size distribution, ore strength/strain testing, loss-on-ignition, Dean Stark extraction, toluene insoluble fraction, base solids & water, oil density, gas chromatography, Batch Unit pyrolysis testing, and Batch Unit combustion testing. Other test units and analysis methods are developed and used as required to meet the project requirements. The laboratory provides significant support during UMATAC’s 60 bbl/d (ATP60) pilot plant testing operations.

For standard analysis methods that are widely available, UMATAC has developed relationships with recognized third party laboratories to provide routine water analysis, detailed hydrocarbon characterisation, and detailed environmental characterisation.

With the redevelopment of our laboratory facilities, we are at proud to be at the forefront of a dynamic and challenging industry. UMATAC’s experience, knowledge, and technology combined with world-class partners Polysius and the ThyssenKrupp Technologies Group can provide complete solutions for oil sands and oil shale projects.

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