Bugs and veggies as a progressive dewatering technology for untreated tailings

油砂工业背负着超过1.21立方米的尾矿库存（osip.alberta.ca）。其中大部分以成熟的细尾矿（MFT）的形式储存，这是一种稳定的泥浆悬浮液，含有~30%的固体，可以持续数十年。通过加快脱水和致密化速度来减少储存尾矿的体积是油砂运营商的当务之急。已经开发了几种尾矿处理技术来解决这个问题，但是，目前的执行成本限制了它们的大规模部署。以前的研究表明，植物可以作为一种成本有效的尾矿封盖或脱水技术，通过蒸汽蒸腾将悬浮中的水释放到环境中，从而增加固体含量和抗剪强度。拟议的研究建立在先前的工作基础上，即通过细菌和水解蛋白等修正物成功地增加了本地，高地，北方植物物种，以脱水浓缩尾矿和离心饼。为了针对未经处理的MFT，本研究旨在开发一种渐进的植物介导脱水技术，能够在流体MFT表面支持植物。此外，我们将优化微生物和有机添加剂来促进植物生长，并通过检测植物和土壤中的养分含量以及根相关微生物的基因表达来研究促进植物生长的机制。我们还将设法了解处理如何影响从尾矿中吸收盐、金属和碳氢化合物进入植物。这个高度跨学科的项目结合了北方研究中心、应用生物纳米技术工业研究项目、北阿尔伯塔理工学院（NAIT）油砂可持续发展中心、劳伦森林业中心分子生物学部门和加拿大自然基金会的专业知识。如果成功，该项目将产生具有成本效益的渐进式脱水原型，能够被动地将尾矿转化为适合开垦的土壤系统，并可扩展到现场部署

The oil sands industry is saddled with a tailings inventory exceeding 1.21 Bm3 (osip.alberta.ca). The majorityof this volume is stored as mature fine tailings (MFT), a stable slurry suspension containing ~30% solids thatcan persist for decades. Reducing the volume of stored tailings by accelerating the rate of dewatering anddensification is a high priority for oil sands operators. Several tailings treatment technologies have beendeveloped to address this problem, however, current costs of implementation limit their deployment at scale.Previous studies have suggested that plants can be employed as a cost effective tailings capping or dewateringtechnology by accessing water trapped in suspension and releasing it to the environment throughevapotranspiration, thereby increasing solids content and shear strength. The proposed study builds on previouswork whereby native, upland, Boreal plant species were successfully augmented with amendments such asbacteria and hydrolyzed proteins to dewater thickened tailings and centrifuge cake. With the objective oftargeting untreated MFT, the proposed study aims to develop a progressive, plant mediated dewateringtechnology capable of supporting plants on the surface of the fluid MFT. In addition, we will optimize amicrobial and organic amendment to augment plant growth and investigate the mechanism by which plantgrowth is enhanced by examining nutrient content in the plant and soil, and gene expression from rootassociated microorganisms. We will also seek to understand how treatments affect the uptake of salts, metals,and hydrocarbons from the tailings into the plants. This highly interdisciplinary project combines expertisefrom the Centre for Boreal Research, the Applied Bio-Nanotechnology Industrial Research program, and theCentre for Oil Sands Sustainability within the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), the molecularbiology unit at the Laurentian Forestry Centre, and Canadian Natural. If successful, this project will result in acost effective, progressive dewatering prototype capable of passively transforming tailings into a soil systemsuitable for reclamation, and will be scalable for field deployment