Improving Fluid Fine Tailings Treatment for Placement in a Permanent Aquatic Storage Structure

油砂流体细尾矿（FFT）是油砂开采的副产品，目前库存超过12亿立方米。由于环境和财务方面的挑战，尾矿被认为是油砂开采的主要负担。目前估计，处理现有库存的费用在50亿至100亿美元之间。尾矿处理采用各种化学、物理和机械方法。2018年，主要油砂矿运营商森科尔能源公司（Suncor Energy Inc.）将一种名为永久性水生储存结构（PASS）的新型专有尾矿处理方法商业化。为了支持这一计划，森科尔和北阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）油砂可持续发展中心（COSS）提议扩大我们现有的合作，包括与PASS相关的新型化学物质。PASS为森科公司在尾矿处理的数量和成本上提供了一个潜在的阶梯式变化。到目前为止，森科尔已经积累了273.3 Mm3的流体尾矿库存，PASS提供了以经济有效和对环境负责的方式处理其中很大一部分的可能性。PASS技术结合了在尾矿输送过程中使用的高分子絮凝剂和无机絮凝剂。混凝剂通过电荷中和颗粒污染物来补充絮凝剂的作用，加速修复过程，更快地实现回收目标。拟议的研究将a)改进为PASS考虑的化学物质开发的筛选方法，b)简化方案以降低与筛选新技术相关的成本，同时保留对关注的关键参数的分辨率，c)协助预测最终水生生态系统的长期地球化学和生物地球化学特征。该项目将使加拿大油砂运营商能够更快、更有效、更低成本地回收废弃矿山，从而使加拿大受益。

Oil sands fluid fine tailings (FFT) are a byproduct of oil sands mining with current stockpiles exceeding 1.2 billion cubic metres. Tailings are considered a major liability in oil sands mining due to environmental and financial challenges. Current estimates place the cost of treatment of existing stockpiles between $5B-10B. Tailings are treated using a variety of chemical, physical and mechanical methods. In 2018, Suncor Energy Inc., a major oil sands mine operator, commercialized a novel and proprietary tailings treatment approach named Permanent Aquatic Storage Structure (PASS). To support this program, Suncor and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Centre for Oil Sands Sustainability (COSS) propose to expand our existing collaboration to include novel chemistries relevant to PASS. PASS offers a potential step-change in the volume and cost of tailings treatment for Suncor. To date, Suncor has accumulated 273.3 Mm3 of total fluid tailings inventory and PASS offers the possibility of treating a significant portion of this in a cost-effective, and environmentally responsible manner. The PASS technology combines the use of a polymer flocculant and an inorganic coagulant applied during the tailings transport process. Coagulants supplement the well-understood action of flocculants through charge neutralization of particulate contaminants, accelerating the remediation process and leading to faster reclamation objectives. The proposed study will a) improve the screening methodology developed for chemistries being considered for PASS, b) streamline the protocol to reduce the costs associated with screening a new technology while retaining resolution on the key parameters of concern, and c) assist with the prediction of long-term geochemical and biogeochemical characteristics of the final aquatic ecosystem. This project will benefit Canada by enabling oil sands operators to reclaim decommissioned mines faster, more efficiently and at a lower cost.