Oil Sands Molecular Engineering

虽然加拿大的油砂工业以其非常大的规模而闻名，但实际上决定沥青提取、提质和尾矿回收成功的是纳米级（一纳米是一米的1/10亿）的非常小规模的工艺。流体（水和沥青）和固体颗粒（砂和粘土）之间复杂的相互作用控制着从油砂中回收沥青、随后从尾矿中去除水以及油砂加工的总体能源效率。然而，纳米级的结构性能关系，反应性和传输性能的接口没有得到很好的理解。需要突破性地测量这些界面处的成分和力，以使新的处理技术能够减少用水，修复尾矿，并减少温室气体排放。需要解决的关键问题是： · 固液界面的化学和物理结构和动力学及其时间和空间依赖性是什么？ · 界面区域如何影响油砂的化学和物理性质？ · 在多大程度上可以通过控制界面的行为来改善油砂加工？ 迄今为止，阿尔伯塔大学的工作在回答这些问题方面取得了很大进展，但需要更好的信息来了解界面分子的化学性质以及它们在纳米尺度上如何相互作用的物理性质。CERC开发的仪器将包括： · 用于远距离检测表面上分子的光声光谱学 · 用于确定化学成分的表面和次表面成像化学识别显微镜 · 基于MEMS（微机电系统）的物理和化学传感器，用于测量油砂流的特性。 这些工具将用于研究油砂中界面对电和化学梯度、温度、压力、离子浓度和机械力的响应。 油砂分子工程CERC的候选人托马斯·桑达特博士以其对界面分子和纳米结构的研究而闻名。他在开发用于检测表面分子（即使是痕量分子）的新技术以及开发在油砂加工中具有巨大潜在应用的新传感器方面，已成为世界领先者。

While Canada’s oil sands industry is known for the very large scale of its operations, it is the very small-scale processes operating at the scale of nanometers (one nanometer is 1/1,000,000,000 of a meter) that actually determine the success of bitumen extraction, upgrading and reclamation of tailings. The complex interplay of forces between the fluids (water and bitumen) and the solid particles (sand and clay) controls the recovery of bitumen from oil sand, the subsequent removal of water from the tailings, and the overall energy efficiency of oil sand processing. However, the nanoscale structure-property relations, reactivity, and transport properties of the interfaces are not well understood. Breakthroughs in measuring the composition and forces at these interfaces are needed to enable new processing technology to reduce water use, remediate tailings, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Key questions to be addressed are: • What are the chemical and physical structure and dynamics of the solid–liquid interfaces and their temporal and spatial dependence? • How does the interfacial region influence chemical and physical properties of the oil sands? • To what extent is it possible to extrinsically control the behavior of interfaces to improve oil sands processing? Work to date at the University of Alberta has made great progress in answering these questions, but better information is needed on the chemistry of the molecules at the interface and the physics of how they interact at the nanoscale. The instrumentation developed by the CERC will include: • Standoff photoacoustic spectroscopy to sense molecules on surfaces at a distance • Surface and subsurface imaging chemical recognition microscopy to define chemical composition • MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems)-based physical and chemical sensors to measure the properties of oil sands streams. These tools will be used to investigate the response of the interfaces in the oil sands to electric and chemical gradients, temperature, pressure, ion concentration, and mechanical forces. The candidate for the CERC in Oil Sands Molecular Engineering, Dr. Thomas Thundat, is famous for his studies of molecules and nanoscale structures at interfaces. He has established himself as a world leader in the development of new techniques for detecting molecules on surfaces, even in trace quantities, and in the development of new sensors that have tremendous potential application to oil sands processing.