Bugs and veggies as tailings management tools

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Current approaches for tailings treatment, such as evaporation, freeze-thaw, polymer amendment, andcentrifugation are high cost alternatives due to large areas required, time needed for drying and limitations withdeposit depth. This project, led by three applied research centres at the Northern Alberta Institute ofTechnology (NAIT) in collaboration with Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the Institutefor Oil Sands Innovation (IOSI), aims to demonstrate a novel approach to simultaneously dewater, consolidateand remediate mature fine tailings (MFT) by (1) growing native boreal plant species that effectively germinateand/or establish and dewater MFT, and (2) enhancing native plant establishment by augmenting MFT withknown consortia of indigenous bacteria with proven potential to promote plant growth, enhance nutrientcycling and degrade toxic hydrocarbon compounds. The study aims to overcome current barriers by usingnative woody and herbaceous boreal species with high evapotranspiration rates and proven potential togerminate and establish on MFT. Bacterial cultures capable of degrading specific organic compounds such asnaphtha, and fix nitrogen to ammonium, will be isolated and enriched from MFT sources. The MFT will beinoculated with the bacterial cultures using biocompatible carriers. The selected boreal species will then begerminated and/or established on the inoculated MFT bioaugmenting indigenous bacteria, providing highremediation potential to the rhizosphere, where root exudates will further enhance their activity. The outcomewill be a hospitable environment for plant growth and restoration of nutrient cycling pathways in the tailings.The project will benefit the oil sands operators with an environmentally and economically viable approach tosimultaneously stabilize and remediate tailings, thereby transforming tailing into a soil system capable ofsustaining reclamation and reforestation efforts, and facilitating mine closure plans.