Biological treatment of naphthenic acids in oil sands process waters

油砂工艺水中环烷酸的生物处理

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-05395
• 负责人: Ramsay, Juliana
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: Queen's University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=611615
• 关键词: Biological; treatment; naphthenic; acids; oil

The Athabasca oilsands is the world’s third largest petroleum reserve. The Clark’s hot water extraction process separates bitumen from oilsands and generates a wastewater stream known as oilsands process waters (OSPW). A complex mixture of naphthenic acids (NAs) at a low concentration in the extraction water has been identified as the major toxic component, and as the most significant barrier to remediation of OSPW. Hence, the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act prohibits its discharge. Since there is no effective treatment at an industrial scale, OSPW is stored in tailings ponds that exceed 720 million m3. As the oilsands industry expands, environmental concerns become increasingly important. In previous work, we have shown that a microbial biofilm in a fully-instrumented, continuous flow reactor has been established on OSPW as the only source of carbon and energy and was able to remove 38 ± 7% of NAs at a rate of 2.82 mg/L-d, substantially higher than previous reports. However, higher NA removal is needed for industrial application. To achieve this, we need a better understanding of the role that different microbial populations in the biofilm play in degrading different groups of NAs so that we can artificially construct a specific biofilm composition that would degrade NAs more effectively and efficiently and so achieve a much higher level of NAs removal. The overall goal of this research program is to develop a biofilm reactor system for the biodegradation and detoxification of NAs in OSPW. If successful, this program will be the first to demonstrate that an artificially constructed, complex biofilm reactor can effectively enhance the cleanup of complex organic wastes like NAs in OPSW. This could lead to pilot-scale studies and commercialization, resulting in economic, social and environmental benefits to Canada.

阿萨巴斯卡油砂是世界第三大石油储量。克拉克的热水提取工艺将沥青从油砂中分离出来，并产生一种称为油砂工艺水(OSPW)的废水。提取水中浓度较低的复杂环烷酸混合物已被确定为主要有毒成分，也是修复OSPW的最大障碍。因此，《艾伯塔省环境保护和加强法》禁止排放。由于没有工业规模的有效处理，OSPW储存在超过7.2亿立方米的尾矿池中。随着油砂行业的扩张，环境问题变得越来越重要。 在以前的工作中，我们已经在全仪器化的连续流反应器中建立了微生物膜，作为唯一的碳源和能源，能够以2.82 mg/L·d的速率去除38±7%的Nas，大大高于以往的报道。然而，工业应用需要更高的NA去除能力。为了实现这一点，我们需要更好地了解生物膜中不同的微生物种群在降解不同组的NAS中所起的作用，以便我们能够人工构建特定的生物膜成分，从而更有效地降解NAS，从而实现更高水平的NAS去除。这项研究计划的总体目标是开发一种用于OSPW中NAS的生物降解和解毒的生物膜反应器系统。如果成功，这个项目将是第一个证明人工建造的复杂生物膜反应器可以有效地加强像OPSW的NAS这样的复杂有机废物的清理。这可能导致试点研究和商业化，为加拿大带来经济、社会和环境效益。