Orimulsion facts for kids

Orimulsion is a special type of fuel. It was created in Venezuela from a thick, tar-like substance called bitumen. This fuel was made to be used in big power plants and factories.

Where Does Bitumen Come From?

Bitumen is a natural resource, much like coal or regular oil. The largest known supply of bitumen in the world is found in a place called the Orinoco Belt in Venezuela. This area holds an enormous amount of bitumen – enough to fill over 1,300 billion barrels! That's about the same amount as all the proven oil reserves around the globe.

How Orimulsion Is Made

Raw bitumen is extremely thick and heavy, almost like tar. Because of this, you can't use it directly in power plants. To make Orimulsion, the bitumen is mixed with about 30% fresh water and a small amount of a special chemical called a surfactant. Think of a surfactant like a soap that helps oil and water mix.

Once mixed, Orimulsion becomes much easier to handle and flows more like regular fuel oil. Originally, the surfactant used was based on a chemical called phenol, which had some health concerns. Now, they use an alcohol-based surfactant, which is safer and helps the fuel travel better.

Good Things About Orimulsion

Orimulsion has several benefits as a fuel for making electricity:

• There are huge amounts of bitumen available, so it's a reliable source of energy.
• It can be cheaper than coal in the international market.
• It's fairly easy and safe to produce, move, store, and handle.
• It catches fire easily and burns well, which is good for power plants.
• Power plants that usually burn coal or heavy fuel oil can be changed to use Orimulsion.

Challenges with Orimulsion

While burning Orimulsion has similar environmental effects to burning other fuels, dealing with spills can be tricky.

• If Orimulsion spills into water, like from a ship, the bitumen and water can separate. This means the thick bitumen can no longer stay mixed with the water.
• Orimulsion is also a "non-Newtonian fluid." This means it doesn't always flow like a normal liquid. If its temperature drops below 30 °C (86 °F), it can become very thick and "set." Once it sets, it's almost impossible to pump, making it hard to restart operations or get it flowing through pipes again.

Why Its Use Is Changing

Orimulsion is still used in power plants in countries like Japan, Italy, and China. However, its use has become less common than it once was.

One big reason for this change happened after a major strike in Venezuela between 2002 and 2003. Many engineers who strongly supported Orimulsion were let go from the state oil company, PDVSA. Because of this, Orimulsion lost some of its support among important political leaders. As a result, the Venezuelan government has been slowly stopping the Orimulsion program for most countries, except for its sales to China. Venezuela and China have strong ties, so China continues to receive Orimulsion supplies.

Another reason for the change is that the price of regular crude oil has gone up. PDVSA found that mixing the thick Orinoco bitumen with lighter crude oil makes a blend that can be sold for more money as crude oil on the world market than as Orimulsion. For example, the "Merey blend" is a popular mix of Orinoco bitumen and another type of crude oil.

It's important to know that modern technology can control pollution from Orimulsion, keeping emissions at safe levels.

See also

In Spanish: Orimulsión para niños