Selective electrocoagulation of tailing components

阿尔伯塔能源工业露天采矿作业产生的主要废物是尾矿水。尾矿水含有悬浮的超细砂颗粒、残余沥青和有价值的重矿物。这些稳定的悬浮液需要很长时间才能沉淀到池塘底部（> 10年）。此外，复垦地的机械强度仍然很差，无法回归自然。因此，加快尾矿水和土地的复垦是一个重要的目标，可以使阿尔伯塔的能源部门更加可持续。目前，缺乏处理技术，可以减少回收期在一个具有成本效益的方式构成了一个重大的危险，在北方阿尔伯塔的环境。电凝聚法为尾矿水的处理提供了一种清洁、快速的方法。电凝聚颗粒所需的电力构成了该方法的主要成本。电凝聚技术在其他工业和生活污水处理中得到了很好的发展和应用。然而，由于油砂尾矿的复杂性（砂的沥青涂层）和对颗粒沉降的机理细节缺乏了解，油砂尾矿的处理还处于起步阶段。拟议的工作，这是在与斯坦泰克公司合作，将解决这个问题，通过堵塞关键的知识差距，在电凝聚条件下的尾矿的各种成分的相对沉降。这项工作的最终目标不仅是以更快、更清洁的方式复垦具有足够强度的土地，而且还减少能源工业的淡水摄入量（通过加强尾矿水的回收利用）。如果成功，这项技术可以推动加拿大成为污染生态系统复垦的领导者。

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