Bugs and veggies as a progressive dewatering technology for untreated tailings

油砂行业的尾矿库存超过1.21亿立方米(osip.alberta.ca)。大多数人 其中一部分作为成熟的细尾矿(MFT)储存，这是一种稳定的泥浆悬浮液，含有约30%的固体 可以持续几十年。通过加快脱水速度和减少储存的尾矿量 对于油砂运营商来说，致密化是一个高度优先的问题。几种尾矿处理技术已经被 然而，为解决这一问题而开发的，目前的实施成本限制了它们的大规模部署。 以前的研究表明，植物可以用作具有成本效益的尾矿封顶或脱水。 技术通过获取滞留在悬浮液中的水并通过 蒸散，从而增加固体含量和剪切强度。这项拟议的研究是建立在先前 通过以下修正成功地增加了本土、旱地、北方植物物种的工作 细菌和水解蛋白质脱水浓缩的尾矿和离心机滤饼。目标是 针对未经处理的MFT，拟议的研究旨在开发一种渐进的、植物介导的脱水方法 能够支撑流体MFT表面植物的技术。此外，我们还将优化一个 微生物和有机改良剂促进植物生长并研究植物 通过检测植物和土壤中的养分含量以及来自根的基因表达来促进生长。 伴生微生物。我们还将试图了解处理如何影响盐、金属、 以及来自尾矿的碳氢化合物进入工厂。这个高度跨学科的项目结合了专业知识 来自北方研究中心、应用生物纳米技术产业研究计划和 北艾伯塔省理工学院(NAIT)油砂可持续发展中心 劳伦斯林业中心的生物股和加拿大自然。如果成功，这个项目将导致 经济高效的渐进式脱水原型，能够被动地将尾矿转化为土壤系统 适合填海，并将可扩展以用于现场部署

The oil sands industry is saddled with a tailings inventory exceeding 1.21 Bm3 (osip.alberta.ca). The majority of this volume is stored as mature fine tailings (MFT), a stable slurry suspension containing ~30% solids that can persist for decades. Reducing the volume of stored tailings by accelerating the rate of dewatering and densification is a high priority for oil sands operators. Several tailings treatment technologies have been developed to address this problem, however, current costs of implementation limit their deployment at scale. Previous studies have suggested that plants can be employed as a cost effective tailings capping or dewatering technology by accessing water trapped in suspension and releasing it to the environment through evapotranspiration, thereby increasing solids content and shear strength. The proposed study builds on previous work whereby native, upland, Boreal plant species were successfully augmented with amendments such as bacteria and hydrolyzed proteins to dewater thickened tailings and centrifuge cake. With the objective of targeting untreated MFT, the proposed study aims to develop a progressive, plant mediated dewatering technology capable of supporting plants on the surface of the fluid MFT. In addition, we will optimize a microbial and organic amendment to augment plant growth and investigate the mechanism by which plant growth is enhanced by examining nutrient content in the plant and soil, and gene expression from root associated microorganisms. We will also seek to understand how treatments affect the uptake of salts, metals, and hydrocarbons from the tailings into the plants. This highly interdisciplinary project combines expertise from the Centre for Boreal Research, the Applied Bio-Nanotechnology Industrial Research program, and the Centre for Oil Sands Sustainability within the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), the molecular biology unit at the Laurentian Forestry Centre, and Canadian Natural. If successful, this project will result in a cost effective, progressive dewatering prototype capable of passively transforming tailings into a soil system suitable for reclamation, and will be scalable for field deployment