Bugs and veggies as tailings management tools

目前的尾矿处理方法，如蒸发、冻融、聚合物改良和离心，由于需要大面积、干燥所需时间和沉积深度的限制，是高成本的替代方案。该项目由北方阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）的三个应用研究中心牵头，与加拿大油砂创新联盟（COSIA）和油砂创新研究所（IOSI）合作，旨在展示一种新的方法，通过（1）种植能够有效发芽和/或建立并修复成熟细粒尾矿（MFT）的北方原生植物物种，和（2）通过用已知的具有促进植物生长、增强营养循环和降解有毒烃化合物的潜力的土著细菌的聚生体增加MFT来增强本地植物的建立。这项研究的目的是克服目前的障碍，利用本地木本和草本北方物种具有高蒸散率和证明潜在的发芽和建立在MFT。能够降解特定有机化合物（如石脑油）并将氮固定到铵上的细菌培养物将从MFT源中分离和富集。MFT将使用生物相容性载体接种细菌培养物。选择的北方树种将在接种的MFT生物强化土著细菌上开始萌发和/或建立，为根际提供高修复潜力，根分泌物将进一步增强其活性。该项目将为植物生长和尾矿中养分循环途径的恢复创造适宜的环境。该项目将使油砂运营商受益，其方法在环境和经济上都是可行的，可以同时稳定和修复尾矿，从而将尾矿转化为能够维持复垦和重新造林工作的土壤系统，并促进矿山关闭计划。

Current approaches for tailings treatment, such as evaporation, freeze-thaw, polymer amendment, andcentrifugation are high cost alternatives due to large areas required, time needed for drying and limitations withdeposit depth. This project, led by three applied research centres at the Northern Alberta Institute ofTechnology (NAIT) in collaboration with Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the Institutefor Oil Sands Innovation (IOSI), aims to demonstrate a novel approach to simultaneously dewater, consolidateand remediate mature fine tailings (MFT) by (1) growing native boreal plant species that effectively germinateand/or establish and dewater MFT, and (2) enhancing native plant establishment by augmenting MFT withknown consortia of indigenous bacteria with proven potential to promote plant growth, enhance nutrientcycling and degrade toxic hydrocarbon compounds. The study aims to overcome current barriers by usingnative woody and herbaceous boreal species with high evapotranspiration rates and proven potential togerminate and establish on MFT. Bacterial cultures capable of degrading specific organic compounds such asnaphtha, and fix nitrogen to ammonium, will be isolated and enriched from MFT sources. The MFT will beinoculated with the bacterial cultures using biocompatible carriers. The selected boreal species will then begerminated and/or established on the inoculated MFT bioaugmenting indigenous bacteria, providing highremediation potential to the rhizosphere, where root exudates will further enhance their activity. The outcomewill be a hospitable environment for plant growth and restoration of nutrient cycling pathways in the tailings.The project will benefit the oil sands operators with an environmentally and economically viable approach tosimultaneously stabilize and remediate tailings, thereby transforming tailing into a soil system capable ofsustaining reclamation and reforestation efforts, and facilitating mine closure plans.