NSERC/COSIA Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sand Tailings Geotechnique

油砂被视为加拿大经济的重要组成部分。与此同时，油砂作业对环境的影响也在增加。尾矿库几乎完全用于废物管理，这些尾矿库的总占地面积目前超过220平方公里。经过处理的油砂矿产生一种尾矿浆，由水、砂、粉土和粘土（或“细粉”）以及少量残余沥青组成。尾矿被排放到一个沉淀池中，使沙子部分快速沉淀在海滩上，其余的细尾矿沉淀在池塘中。加拿大油砂创新联盟（COSIA）与UAlberta合作，大大提高了尾矿池的回收率。拟议的研究计划包括ofcomplementary主题，整合多学科专业知识从UAlberta和行业。该研究提出了开发和应用新的和创新的地质技术来设计油砂行业的干堆积矿床，同时调查当前油砂尾矿管理和回收策略的地质技术和生物地球化学方面。拟议的研究计划侧重于：主题1：尾矿和覆盖层干堆积矿床的工程混合物主题2：生物地质化学相互作用对软尾矿岩土性能的影响主题3：覆盖软尾矿矿床这些互补的主题旨在进行研究，展望尾矿矿床的未来，同时为直接/临时挑战提供研究。预计将有15名高素质的人员通过该研究计划接受培训。此外，工业界和学术界之间的合作将使流体细尾矿的行为和改进管理的基本发现，使工程学科受益，并加强阿尔伯塔大学和加拿大作为采矿复垦和油砂尾矿地质技术的国际领导者的地位。

The oil sands are viewed as a vital component to the Canadian economy. At the same time, the environmentalimpacts of oil sands operations are also growing. Tailings impoundments are used almost exclusively for wastemanagement, and the combined footprint for these impoundments is currently more than 220 km2. Processedoil sands ore yields a tailings slurry composed of water, sand, silt and clay (or "fines"), and a small amount ofresidual bitumen. The tailings are discharged into a settling basin, allowing the sand fraction to settle quicklyon the beach with the balance of fine tailings settling in the pond.The Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and have partnered with UAlberta to significantlyadvance the rate at which tailings ponds can be reclaimed. The proposed research program consists ofcomplementary themes that integrate multidisciplinary expertise from UAlberta and industry. The researchproposes the development and application of new and innovative geotechniques to design dry stacked depositsfor the oil sands industry while simultaneously investigating geotechnical and bio-geochemical aspects ofcurrent oil sands tailings management and reclamation strategies. The proposed research program focuses on:Theme 1: Engineered Mixtures of Tailings and Overburden for Dry Stacked DepositsTheme 2: Influence of Bio-geo-chemical Interactions on the Geotechnical Behaviour of Soft TailingsTheme 3: Capping Soft Tailings DepositsThese complementary themes aim to conduct research that looks to the future of tailings deposits, whileproviding research for immediate/interim challenges. It is anticipated that 15 highly qualified personnel will betrained through the research program. Further, the collaboration between industry and academia will enablefundamental discoveries for the behaviour and improved management of fluid fine tailings, benefitting theengineering discipline, and bolster the University of Alberta and Canada's position as an international leader inmining reclamation and oil sands tailings geotechnique.