Combining Worms, Microbes and Vegetation to Enhance Tailings Dewatering

结合蠕虫、微生物和植被来增强尾矿脱水

• 批准号: 542357-2019
• 负责人: Bajic, Jelena
• 金额: $ 5.46万
• 依托单位: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=699566
• 关键词: Combining; Worms; Microbes; Vegetation; Enhance

Accelerating the dewatering and consolidation process of fluid fine tailings and sediment management is a major challenge to the oil sands industry in Canada, and for mining and land reclamation industry world-wide. Much of the technology development in this space has focused on engineered solutions with less attention to biological options. The proposed study brings together and builds on multiple biology-based research streams aimed at tailings dewatering and densification. This study will introduce native plants and worms into thickened tailings in conjunction with treatments that improve plant development (and may also be of benefit to worms) such as bacterial inoculation and incorporation of carbon-based amendments. Previous studies showed that worms and vegetation can separately improve dewatering of oil sands tailings, comparably or beyond chemical flocculants. This study intends to build on these encouraging results testing the coupled effect of plants and worms together. In addition, effort will also be placed on understanding the mechanism behind dewatering and consolidation in this complex biological system through use of X-ray microtomography (µCT) imaging. This is a highly interdisciplinary project that combines areas of expertise from numerous engineering specializations, molecular biology and plant ecophysiology from three institutions including Deltares (Netherlands), Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT, Canada) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, United Kingdom). Using natural processes provides oil sands operators with alternative tailings treatment technologies that are environmentally friendly, cost-effective and are aligned with other reclamation goals. Finally, this project represents an excellent opportunity for cross-exchange of knowledge and experience between North America and Europe. The knowledge gained in this project is instrumental in at least two iconic pilot projects on-going in the Netherlands (e.g. Marker Wadden and Kleirijperij) which focus on implementing nature-based concept to beneficial use of dredge (soft) sediments for flood protection (e.g. dike enhancement).

加速流体细尾砂的脱水和固结过程以及沉积物管理是加拿大油砂工业以及全世界采矿和土地复垦工业面临的一项重大挑战。该领域的大部分技术开发都集中在工程解决方案上，很少关注生物选择。拟议的研究汇集并建立在多个基于生物学的研究流的基础上，旨在尾矿脱水和致密化。这项研究将把本地植物和蠕虫引入加厚的尾矿中，并结合改善植物发育（也可能对蠕虫有益）的处理，如细菌接种和碳基修正剂的掺入。前人的研究表明，蚯蚓和植被对油砂尾矿脱水的改善作用可与化学絮凝剂相匹敌或超越。本研究打算在这些令人鼓舞的结果的基础上，测试植物和蠕虫的耦合效应。此外，通过使用x射线微断层扫描（µCT）成像，还将努力了解这种复杂生物系统中脱水和固化背后的机制。这是一个高度跨学科的项目，结合了来自荷兰Deltares、加拿大北阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）和英国伦敦玛丽女王大学（QMUL）等三个机构的众多工程专业、分子生物学和植物生态生理学领域的专业知识。使用自然过程为油砂运营商提供了可替代的尾矿处理技术，这些技术对环境友好，具有成本效益，并且与其他回收目标一致。