Subventions et des contributions :

Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2018-2019)

A major waste from surface mining operations of Alberta's energy industries is the tailings water. The tailingsx000D
water contain suspended particles of ultra-fine sand, residual bitumen, and valuable heavy minerals. Thesex000D
stable suspensions take a long time to settle to the bottom of the ponds (> 10 years). In addition, the reclaimedx000D
land still has a poor mechanical strength for it to be returned to nature. Thus, faster reclamation of the tailingsx000D
water and land is an important target that can make Alberta's energy sector more sustainable.x000D
Currently, a lack of treatment technology that can reduce the reclamation period in a cost-effective mannerx000D
poses a significant danger to the environment in northern Alberta's. Electrocoagulation offers a cleaner andx000D
faster method for treating tailings water. The electricity necessary to electrocoagulate the particles constitutes ax000D
major cost in this method. The electrocoagulation technology has been well developed and applied forx000D
treatment of wastewater in other industrial and residential sectors. However, it is at the infant stage for treatingx000D
the oil sands tailings mainly due to the complexity of the tailings (bitumen coating of sand) and missingx000D
knowledge on the mechanistic details of particle settling. The proposed work, which is in collaboration withx000D
Stantec Inc., will address this issue by plugging the critical knowledge gaps on the relative settling of variousx000D
components of tailings under electrocoagulation conditions. The ultimate goal of this work is not only tox000D
reclaim the land with sufficient strength in quicker and cleaner way but also to reduce the amount of freshx000D
water intake by energy industries (through enhanced recycling of tailings water). If successful, this technologyx000D
can propel Canada into a leader in the reclamation of polluted ecosystems.