Value-added carbon materials from PFT (Paraffinic Froth Treatment) tailings

活性碳材料被认为是优秀的吸附剂，支持各种环境应用，如气体的净化和储存。这是由于原材料成本低、可获得多种碳源(例如煤、生物质和焦炭沥青)、较大的表面积和微孔体积以及极性程度。因此，由于用于扩大生产和环境目的的资源丰富，人们密切关注从废物中合成活性碳(AC)。在该方案中，来自PFT(石蜡泡沫处理)尾矿的沥青质被认为是一种廉价且容易获得的碳源，用于合成新型高表面活性碳，用于不同的应用，如气体和水处理、催化剂载体和工业中的重金属去除。由于目前的热解技术由于与废物相关的技术复杂性而面临许多挑战，该项目将开发一种创新的催化热解工艺，通过工艺模拟、优化和技术经济评估，对工业装置进行优化设计，为石化和化工行业提供增值产品，以降低废物处理成本和环境足迹。催化裂解PFT尾矿中的沥青质为消费者提供了一种经济高效的解决方案，以减少土壤中的废碳足迹，并为政策制定者提供了一种工具，使加拿大和全球的重油行业大幅脱碳。一个活性碳生产设施将通过对碳废物进行估价，为加拿大带来未偿还的资本投资。这项研究的成功完成产生了商业化技术所需的基础和实用知识，而商业化技术是其长期目标。该项目将为几名HQP提供培训机会，其中包括三名博士后研究员和两名本科生在转换过程领域。

The Activated carbon materials are known as excellent adsorbent and support a variety of environmental applications, such as purification and storage of gases. This is due to the low cost of raw materials, the availability of a wide variety of carbon sources (for example, coals, biomass, and coke pitch), the large surface area and micropore volume, and the degree of polarity. Accordingly, close attention has been drawn to the synthesis of activated carbons (AC) from waste material owing to the abundance of sources for scale-up production and environmental purposes. In this proposal, asphaltene from the PFT (Paraffinic Froth Treatment) tailings is considered as an inexpensive and readily available carbon source to synthesize novel and high surface activated carbon for different applications such as gas and water treatments, catalyst supports, and removal of heavy metals in the industry. Since current pyrolysis technologies face many challenges due to the technical complexity associated with wastes, this project will develop an innovative catalytic pyrolysis process to reduce waste disposal costs and environmental footprint with the optimum design for an industrial unit via process simulation, optimization, and techno-economic assessment providing a value-added product for the petrochemical and chemical industries. Catalytic pyrolysis of asphaltene from the PFT tailings provides consumers with a cost-effective solution to reduce waste carbon footprint in soil and provides a tool for policymakers to decarbonize the heavy oil industry significantly in Canada and the globe. An activated carbon production facility will bring to Canada outstanding capital investment through valorizing the carbon wastes. Successful completion of this study generate fundamental and practical knowledge required for the commercialized technologies that are its long-term objective. This project will provide a training opportunity for several HQP's including three Postdoctoral fellows and two Undergraduate students in the field of conversion processes.