As Western Canada’s thermal oil sands sector advances toward a more sustainable future, solutions that reduce emissions, water usage, and land impact, while integrating efficiently with existing infrastructure, are in high demand. Scovan’s HipVap Indirect Fired Steam Generator (IFSG) stands at the forefront of this transformation.

The Future of SAGD Starts Now

As the drive for decarbonization intensifies, HipVap offers energy producers a practical, scalable solution that aligns with ESG goals and operational efficiency. Scovan’s continued commitment to innovation ensures HipVap will remain at the leading edge of clean steam generation.

Ready for Commercialization

Leveraging two years of successful commercial demonstration operations, HipVap is now ready for commercial deployment, whether as a standalone high-pressure steam generator or as a solution to replace or integrate with existing steam systems in SAGD facilities across Alberta and Saskatchewan. In integrated application, HipVap can utilize blowdown from other steam generators as feedwater, enabling additional steam production and improving overall thermal efficiency. This flexibility allows operators to adopt HipVap with minimal disruption while optimizing for site-specific needs and infrastructure.

Extensive testing during the phase, including a corrosion study, demonstrated that the HipVap unit is expected to have a lifespan exceeding 20 years. In preparation for commercial deployment, a Clean-in-Place (CIP) service has been integrated into the unit, and redundancy has been added across various unit operations. Notably, the redundancy has been added to the IFSG heat exchanger, the core component where steam is generated, by adding an additional heat exchanger bank to the design. This configuration allows one bank to be taken offline for cleaning by the integrated CIP system while the spare bank takes its place to ensure certain number of heat exchanger banks stay in operation at all times. These upgrades are expected to deliver operational uptime of 98%, ensuring reliability and performance in demanding field environments.

Proven Performance

Launched in 2022, the HipVap commercial demonstration was successfully deployed at Strathcona Resources’ Lindbergh SAGD facility, operating within a live production environment. This demonstration:

• Validated HipVap’s ability to generate steam from produced water
• Provided critical data across a range of process conditions
• Informed commercial design and auxiliary system configurations

The commercial demonstration was supported by Alberta Innovates and Clean Resources Innovation Network (CRIN).

What is HipVap?

HipVap is an innovative Indirect Fired Steam Generator (IFSG) technology designed to produce steam directly from produced water, eliminating the need for the extensive upstream water treatment and cooling processes typically required in SAGD operations. With its modular design, scale-prevention methods, and compact footprint, HipVap enables:

• Lower GHG emissions (up to 70% reduction per tonne of steam produced compared to equivalent OTSG + Warm Lime Softening)
• Significantly reduced water usage (up to 35% reduction per tonne of steam produced compared to equivalent OTSG + Warm Lime Softening)
• Smaller land and equipment footprint (up to 48% reduction per tonne of steam produced compared to equivalent OTSG + Warm Lime Softening)
• Simplified facility integration

By utilizing the produced water at its temperature and avoiding the energy losses associated with conventional treatment and cooling systems, HipVap delivers both environmental and economic benefits. Eliminating these processes also removes several unit operations, resulting in reduced capital investment and lower operating costs. The chart below illustrates the reduction in the unit operations achieved by implementing HipVap:

Partnering with Scovan

Scovan is seeking a strategic partner to share in the advancement of HipVap by committing to our first commercial deployment. As with any breakthrough technology, scaling from a proven commercial demonstration to full commercial application requires collaboration and aligned vision. We are looking for a partner who recognizes the value of leading-edge innovation and is ready to work alongside us to reduce risk and demonstrate the future of sustainable SAGD operations. By partnering with Scovan on this first commercial unit, you will help drive meaningful progress in the energy sector's transition toward cleaner and more efficient operations.

Scovan is an industry leading EPFC that specializes in offering innovation and expertise for energy sector projects by providing engineering, procurement, complete fabrication, construction and construction management services. We specialize in the execution of energy-related industrial facilities and offer industry leading knowledge to project developments.