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。由于环境和财务挑战，尾矿被认为是油砂开采的主要责任。 目前的估计将现有库存的处理费用定在50亿至100亿美元之间。尾矿采用各种化学、物理和机械方法处理。2018年，森科尔能源公司，一家主要的油砂矿运营商将一种新颖的专有尾矿处理方法商业化，该方法被称为永久性水生储存结构（PASS）。为了支持这一计划，森科尔和北方阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）油砂可持续发展中心（COSS）建议扩大我们现有的合作，包括新的化学相关的通行证。PASS为森科尔的尾矿处理量和成本提供了潜在的阶梯式变化。到目前为止，森科尔已经积累了273.3 Mm3的总流体尾矿库存和PASS提供了一个具有成本效益的，对环境负责的方式处理这一重要部分的可能性。PASS技术结合了在尾矿运输过程中应用的高分子絮凝剂和无机絮凝剂的使用。混凝剂通过对颗粒污染物进行电荷中和，补充了絮凝剂的众所周知的作用，加速了修复过程，并导致更快的回收目标。拟议的研究将a）改进为PASS考虑的化学品开发的筛选方法，B）简化协议，以降低与筛选新技术相关的成本，同时保留对关键参数的解决方案，以及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。该项目将使加拿大受益，使油砂运营商能够更快，更有效，更低成本地回收退役矿山。

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.