scholarly journals A Deep Look into the Microbiology and Chemistry of Froth Treatment Tailings: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1091
Author(s):  
Angeline Van Dongen ◽  
Abdul Samad ◽  
Nicole E. Heshka ◽  
Kara Rathie ◽  
Christine Martineau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Fugitive Emissions ◽  
Sulphur Compounds ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Complex Chemistry ◽  
Tailings Ponds ◽  
Bitumen Extraction

In Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR), over 1.25 billion m3 of tailings waste from the bitumen extraction process are stored in tailings ponds. Fugitive emissions associated with residual hydrocarbons in tailings ponds pose an environmental concern and include greenhouse gases (GHGs), reduced sulphur compounds (RSCs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Froth treatment tailings (FTT) are a specific type of tailings waste stream from the bitumen froth treatment process that contains bioavailable diluent: either naphtha or paraffins. Tailings ponds that receive FTT are associated with the highest levels of biogenic gas production, as diverse microbial communities biodegrade the residual diluent. In this review, current literature regarding the composition, chemical analysis, and microbial degradation of FTT and its constituents is presented in order to provide a more complete understanding of the complex chemistry and biological processes related to fugitive emissions from tailings ponds receiving FTT. Characterizing the composition and biodegradation of FTT is important from an environmental perspective to better predict emissions from tailings ponds and guide tailings pond management decisions.

Linking hydrocarbon biodegradation to greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands tailings and its impact on tailings management

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-545
Author(s):  
Tariq Siddique ◽  
Alsu Kuznetsova
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Hydrocarbon Biodegradation ◽  
Soil Productivity ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Fine Tailings ◽  
Oil Sands Tailings ◽  
Tailings Ponds ◽  
Bitumen Extraction

Microbial research for maintaining soil productivity, health, and environment as well as for ecosystem function has been one of the main research focuses in the Department of Renewable Resources (formerly Department of Soil Science) during the last 100 yr. In recent years, microbial research has been expanded to effectively reclaim disturbed land, remediate contaminated sites, and manage soft sediments such as huge volumes of oil sands tailings. This article highlights the microbial processes in tailings ponds that can affect strategies to manage growing inventory of oil sands tailings and reduce associated environmental footprint. Enormous volumes of fluid fine tailings produced during bitumen extraction from oil sands are retained in tailings ponds. Some tailings streams contain residual labile hydrocarbons originated from the hydrocarbon solvents used in the extraction process. Indigenous microorganisms acclimated to the pond environment metabolize certain fractions of the fugitive labile hydrocarbons into biogenic greenhouse gases (GHG) such as methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Long-term (1–7 yr) biodegradation studies conducted using mature fine tailings (MFT) collected from different tailings ponds reveal that the microorganisms sequentially and preferentially biodegrade hydrocarbons under methanogenic conditions. The stoichiometric mathematical model developed on these biodegradation studies can predict GHG emissions from tailings ponds. Production of biogenic gases also affects the porewater and solid-phase chemistry of MFT and accelerates their de-watering and consolidation during active methanogenesis, which is beneficial for recovery of porewater for reuse in the bitumen extraction process and for effective reclamation of consolidated material.

scholarly journals Quantification of methane sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by aircraft mass balance

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 7361-7378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabour Baray ◽  
Andrea Darlington ◽  
Mark Gordon ◽  
Katherine L. Hayden ◽  
Amy Leithead ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Major Surface ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract. Aircraft-based measurements of methane (CH4) and other air pollutants in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) were made during a summer intensive field campaign between 13 August and 7 September 2013 in support of the Joint Canada–Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring. Chemical signatures were used to identify CH4 sources from tailings ponds (BTEX VOCs), open pit surface mines (NOy and rBC) and elevated plumes from bitumen upgrading facilities (SO2 and NOy). Emission rates of CH4 were determined for the five primary surface mining facilities in the region using two mass-balance methods. Emission rates from source categories within each facility were estimated when plumes from the sources were spatially separable. Tailings ponds accounted for 45 % of total CH4 emissions measured from the major surface mining facilities in the region, while emissions from operations in the open pit mines accounted for ∼ 50 %. The average open pit surface mining emission rates ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 t of CH4 h−1 for different facilities in the AOSR. Amongst the 19 tailings ponds, Mildred Lake Settling Basin, the oldest pond in the region, was found to be responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of CH4 (> 70 %). The sum of measured emission rates of CH4 from the five major facilities, 19.2 ± 1.1 t CH4 h−1, was similar to a single mass-balance determination of CH4 from all major sources in the AOSR determined from a single flight downwind of the facilities, 23.7 ± 3.7 t CH4 h−1. The measured hourly CH4 emission rate from all facilities in the AOSR is 48 ± 8 % higher than that extracted for 2013 from the Canadian Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, a legislated facility-reported emissions inventory, converted to hourly units. The measured emissions correspond to an emissions rate of 0.17 ± 0.01 Tg CH4 yr−1 if the emissions are assumed as temporally constant, which is an uncertain assumption. The emission rates reported here are relevant for the summer season. In the future, effort should be devoted to measurements in different seasons to further our understanding of the seasonal parameters impacting fugitive emissions of CH4 and to allow for better estimates of annual emissions and year-to-year variability.

scholarly journals Using carbon-14 and carbon-13 measurements for source attribution of atmospheric methane in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Gonzalez Moguel ◽  
Felix Vogel ◽  
Sébastien Ars ◽  
Hinrich Schaefer ◽  
Jocelyn Turnbull ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Source Attribution ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Carbon 14 ◽  
Isotopic Characterization ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract. The rapidly expanding and energy intensive production from the Canadian oil sands, one of the largest oil reserves globally, accounts for almost 12 % of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions according to inventories. Developing approaches for evaluating reported methane (CH4) emission is crucial for developing effective mitigation policies, but only one study has characterized CH4 sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR). We tested the use of 14C and 13C carbon isotope measurements in ambient CH4 from the AOSR to estimate source contributions from key regional CH4 sources: (1) tailings ponds, (2) surface mines and processing facilities, and (3) wetlands. The isotopic signatures of ambient CH4 indicate that the CH4 enrichments measured at the site were mainly influenced by fossil CH4 emissions from surface mining and processing facilities (53 ± 18 %), followed by fossil CH4 emissions from tailings ponds (36 ± 18 %), and to a lesser extent by modern CH4 emissions from wetlands (10 < 1 %). Our results confirm the importance of tailings ponds in regional CH4 emissions and show that this method can successfully separate wetland CH4 emissions. In the future, the isotopic characterization of CH4 sources, and measurements from different seasons and wind directions are needed to provide a better source attribution in the AOSR.

scholarly journals Review of biological processes in oil sands: a feasible solution for tailings water treatment

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudipta Pramanik
Keyword(s):  
Water Treatment ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Feasible Solution ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Treatment Technology ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Water Treatment Technology ◽  
Tailings Ponds

The bitumen extraction process from Athabasca oil sands ore produces large quantities of toxic processed water as tailings. The oil industry has reduced the demand for fresh water in the extraction process by recycling this tailings water. Continual recycling increases the toxicity of tailings water many times over, and poses a serious threat to surface and groundwater quality. For a sustainable expansion of Canada’s oil sands industry, it is essential to develop a technically practicable and economically feasible tailings water treatment technology. A review was carried out to describe the integral role of biological processes in oil sands history for identifying a successor tailings water treatment technology. This study proposes the application of an entrapped cells system as a feasible solution for tailings water treatment. Bio-augmentation followed by entrapment of the microbial community indigenous to tailings ponds can be a promising tailings water treatment technology.

scholarly journals Field Testing of Selected Salt-Tolerant Screened Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) Clones for Use in Reclamation around End-Pit Lakes Associated with Bitumen Extraction in Northern Alberta

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 572
Author(s):  
Yue Hu ◽  
David Kamelchuk ◽  
Richard Krygier ◽  
Barb R. Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Populus Balsamifera ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Balsam Poplar ◽  
Mine Sites ◽  
Bitumen Extraction ◽  
Northern Alberta

For the oil sands mine sites in northern Alberta, the presence of salty process affected water, a byproduct of the hot-water bitumen extraction process, is anticipated to pose a challenge on some reconstructed landforms. The fundamental challenge when re-vegetating these sites is to ensure not only survival, but vigorous growth where plants are subjected to conditions of high electrical conductivity owing to salts in process affected water that may be contained in the substrate. Finding plants suitable for high salt conditions has offered the opportunity for Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) to investigate the potential role of using native balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera L.) as a key reclamation species for the oil sands region. Two years of greenhouse screening (2012 and 2013) of 222 balsam poplar clones from Al-Pac’s balsam poplar tree improvement program, using process affected discharge water from an oil sands processing facility in Ft. McMurray, has suggested an opportunity to select genetically suitable native clones of balsam poplar for use in reclamation of challenging sites affected by process water. In consideration of the results from both greenhouse and field testing, there is an opportunity to select genetically suitable native clones of balsam poplar that are tolerant to challenging growing conditions, making them more suitable for planting on saline sites.

scholarly journals Modeling Effect of Bitumen Extraction Processes on Oil Sands Tailings Ponds

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silawat Jeeravipoolvarn ◽  
Warren Miller ◽  
Don Scott ◽  
Louis Kabwe ◽  
Ward Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Extraction Processes ◽  
Oil Sands Tailings ◽  
Tailings Ponds ◽  
Bitumen Extraction ◽  
Oil Sands Tailings Ponds
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