Bugs and veggies as tailings management tools

目前的尾矿处理方法，如蒸发、冻融、聚合物改良和离心，由于需要大面积、干燥所需时间和存款深度的限制，是高成本的替代方案。该项目由北方阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）的三个应用研究中心牵头，与加拿大油砂创新联盟（COSIA）和油砂创新研究所（IOSI）合作，旨在展示一种新的方法，通过（1）种植能有效发芽 ** 和/或建立和修复成熟细粒尾矿（MFT）的本地北方植物物种，和（2）通过用已知的土著细菌的聚生体增加MFT来增强本地植物的建立，所述土著细菌被证明具有促进植物生长、增强养分循环和降解有毒烃化合物的潜力。这项研究的目的是克服目前的障碍，利用 ** 本地木本和草本北方物种具有高蒸散率和证明潜力 ** 发芽和建立在MFT。将从MFT来源中分离和富集能够降解特定有机化合物（如 ** 石脑油）并将氮固定为铵的细菌培养物。将使用生物相容性载体用细菌培养物接种MFT。然后，选定的北方物种将在接种的MFT生物增强土著细菌上发芽和/或建立，为根际提供高的修复潜力，其中根分泌物将进一步增强其活性。结果 ** 将是一个有利于植物生长和恢复尾矿中营养循环途径的环境。该项目将使油砂运营商受益，采用环境和经济上可行的方法 ** 同时稳定和修复尾矿，从而将尾矿转化为能够 ** 维持复垦和重新造林工作的土壤系统，并促进矿山关闭计划。

Current approaches for tailings treatment, such as evaporation, freeze-thaw, polymer amendment, and**centrifugation are high cost alternatives due to large areas required, time needed for drying and limitations with**deposit depth. This project, led by three applied research centres at the Northern Alberta Institute of**Technology (NAIT) in collaboration with Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the Institute**for Oil Sands Innovation (IOSI), aims to demonstrate a novel approach to simultaneously dewater, consolidate**and remediate mature fine tailings (MFT) by (1) growing native boreal plant species that effectively germinate**and/or establish and dewater MFT, and (2) enhancing native plant establishment by augmenting MFT with**known consortia of indigenous bacteria with proven potential to promote plant growth, enhance nutrient**cycling and degrade toxic hydrocarbon compounds. The study aims to overcome current barriers by using**native woody and herbaceous boreal species with high evapotranspiration rates and proven potential to**germinate and establish on MFT. Bacterial cultures capable of degrading specific organic compounds such as**naphtha, and fix nitrogen to ammonium, will be isolated and enriched from MFT sources. The MFT will be**inoculated with the bacterial cultures using biocompatible carriers. The selected boreal species will then be**germinated and/or established on the inoculated MFT bioaugmenting indigenous bacteria, providing high**remediation potential to the rhizosphere, where root exudates will further enhance their activity. The outcome**will 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 to**simultaneously stabilize and remediate tailings, thereby transforming tailing into a soil system capable of**sustaining reclamation and reforestation efforts, and facilitating mine closure plans.