Our research and development (R&D) in this area is intended to support the remediation and reclamation of soils, sediments, and tailings related to conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon production, with a specific focus on oil sands tailings and process waters. The Canadian oil sands industry is a complex system with environmental challenges in the remediation and reclamation of operations. Specifically,
- the settling and consolidation of fluid fine tailings (FFT) and froth treatment tailings (FTT) is a long-term process without intervention and management
- oil sands process water (OSPW) must be treated prior to disposal
- greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from tailings ponds and mine faces remain an issue
- leachates from tailings may cause environmental impacts to groundwater and surface waters
Key challenges include the fact that, without intervention, the consolidation of tailings into environmentally sustainable land will take many years. Despite ongoing research in the sector, there remain significant technical challenges in the management of both tailings and OSPW. Tailings contain residual bitumen and heavy metals in a matrix of fine sand and clay, which must be dewatered if a trafficable landscape is to be developed as part of the reclamation strategy or submerged to form an artificial wetland if an end-pit lake is the goal. Furthermore, where iron sulfide (i.e., pyrite) is present, it may oxidize and lead to acidic leachates, a widely recognized environmental issue. In either scenario, residual organic materials and trace metals may leach into surface waters and groundwater adjacent to the storage location.
Our areas of focus
Much of our R&D in this area is to assess new treatment methods for tailings, assess acid leaching processes from tailings, and develop new biosensors for naphthenic acids, which will aid in monitoring and management of toxic pollutants. Specifically, we are working on:
- pretreatment of froth treatment tailings with biosurfactants
- engineering eco-friendly flocculants to reduce reclamation time to 20 years
- the role of soil caps in prevention of acid rock drainage from oil sands froth treatment tailings
- biosensor development for oil sands monitoring applications
- experimental system simulations
Contact information
For information about our team, research, or to work with us, please contact:
James Brydie PhD. P.Geo., Director - Upstream and Environment
james.brydie@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca
(587) 337 2536