Selective electrocoagulation of tailing components

阿尔伯塔省能源工业露天采矿作业产生的主要废物是尾矿水。尾矿水中含有超细砂悬浮颗粒、残余沥青和有价值的重矿物。这些稳定的悬浮物需要很长时间才能沉降到池塘底部（大约10年）。此外，复垦后的土地机械强度较差，难以回归自然。因此，更快地回收尾矿水和土地是一个重要的目标，可以使阿尔伯塔省的能源部门更具可持续性。目前，缺乏能够以经济有效的方式缩短开垦周期的处理技术，这对阿尔伯塔省北部的环境构成了重大威胁。电絮凝是一种更清洁、更快速的尾矿水处理方法。电凝固颗粒所需的电是这种方法的主要成本。电絮凝技术在其他工业和生活领域的废水处理中得到了很好的发展和应用。然而，油砂尾矿的处理还处于初级阶段，主要是由于尾矿的复杂性（砂的沥青包覆层）和对颗粒沉降机理细节的认识不足。拟议的工作与stantec公司合作，将通过填补电凝条件下尾矿各种成分相对沉降的关键知识空白来解决这一问题。这项工作的最终目标不仅是更快、更清洁地回收足够强度的土地，而且还可以减少能源工业的淡水摄入量（通过加强尾矿水的循环利用）。如果成功，这项技术可以推动加拿大成为污染生态系统回收的领导者。

A major waste from surface mining operations of Alberta's energy industries is the tailings water. The tailingswater contain suspended particles of ultra-fine sand, residual bitumen, and valuable heavy minerals. Thesestable suspensions take a long time to settle to the bottom of the ponds (> 10 years). In addition, the reclaimedland still has a poor mechanical strength for it to be returned to nature. Thus, faster reclamation of the tailingswater and land is an important target that can make Alberta's energy sector more sustainable.Currently, a lack of treatment technology that can reduce the reclamation period in a cost-effective mannerposes a significant danger to the environment in northern Alberta's. Electrocoagulation offers a cleaner andfaster method for treating tailings water. The electricity necessary to electrocoagulate the particles constitutes amajor cost in this method. The electrocoagulation technology has been well developed and applied fortreatment of wastewater in other industrial and residential sectors. However, it is at the infant stage for treatingthe oil sands tailings mainly due to the complexity of the tailings (bitumen coating of sand) and missingknowledge on the mechanistic details of particle settling. The proposed work, which is in collaboration withStantec Inc., will address this issue by plugging the critical knowledge gaps on the relative settling of variouscomponents of tailings under electrocoagulation conditions. The ultimate goal of this work is not only toreclaim the land with sufficient strength in quicker and cleaner way but also to reduce the amount of freshwater intake by energy industries (through enhanced recycling of tailings water). If successful, this technologycan propel Canada into a leader in the reclamation of polluted ecosystems.