Enhancing the Treatment of Oil Sands Process Water through Bioremediation

通过生物修复加强油砂工艺水的处理

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04054
• 负责人: Ulrich, Ania
• 金额: $ 1.75万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2016-01-01 至 2017-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=610805
• 关键词: Enhancing; Treatment; Oil; Sands; Process

The oil sands industry in Alberta, Canada, currently produces over 1 million barrels of oil per day, drawing from the estimated 174 billion barrels of bitumen reserves in the area. These bitumen deposits are not readily available and must be extracted using large volumes of hot water. This in turn leads to large volumes of waste in the form of oil sands process-affected water and tailings. The Government of Alberta has instated a zero-discharge policy that requires these materials be recycled or stored on site and mandates that over time operators reclaim impacted sites back to their former self-sustaining ecosystems. One on-site storage and treatment option is end-pit lakes, which consist of fluid fine tailings capped with a layer of water. It is projected that the pollutants present in the pond will undergo natural attenuation over time. However, the use of end-pit lakes as a successful reclamation option has not yet been demonstrated at full field scale, and concerns regarding the flux of chemicals from sediments to overlying cap water and the effects of microbially mediated biogeochemical reactions remain. Chemical remediation options such as ozonation exist, but are too costly for large-scale use. Recent work in our lab has demonstrated that the addition of an extraction process waste product (petroleum coke) to oil sands process-affected water shows promise as an inexpensive way to effectively adsorb contaminants. However, petroleum coke is known to leach inorganic compounds (such as vanadium) upon contact with oil sands process-affected water, which would require subsequent treatment. One low-cost remediation option to treat oil sands waste is to utilize microorganisms that are able to degrade the appropriate contaminants. The primary objective of this Discovery Program is to 1) investigate the biogeochemical reactions occurring in end-pit lakes; and 2) identify a microbial consortium or individual organism(s) able to degrade contaminants and enhance the remediation of oil sands process-affected water prior to, or during, its enclosure in end-pit lakes. The short-term outcomes of this research will include 1) an increased understanding of contaminant flux and biogeochemistry within the end-pit lakes; 2) an assessment of the ability of the indigenous microbial community and isolated organisms to degrade contaminants of concern; and 3) an evaluation of the feasibility of using petroleum coke coupled with the bioremediation of vanadium to effectively treat oil sands process-affected water prior to enclosure in end-pit lakes. Long term, this research will enhance our knowledge of the natural bioremediation process and provide us with the tools to monitor and enhance both the effectiveness and the timeline of reclamation activities.

加拿大阿尔伯塔省的油砂工业目前每天生产超过 100 万桶石油，该地区的沥青储量估计为 1,740 亿桶。这些沥青沉积物不易获得，必须使用大量热水提取。这反过来又导致大量废物，以受油砂加工影响的水和尾矿的形式产生。艾伯塔省政府制定了零排放政策，要求回收这些材料或在现场储存这些材料，并要求运营商随着时间的推移将受影响的场地恢复到以前的自我维持的生态系统。一种现场储存和处理方案是尾坑湖，它由覆盖有一层水的液态细尾矿组成。预计池塘中存在的污染物将随着时间的推移而自然衰减。然而，使用终坑湖作为一种成功的围垦方案尚未在全现场规模得到证实，并且对化学物质从沉积物到上覆盖水的通量以及微生物介导的生物地球化学反应的影响的担忧仍然存在。 存在臭氧化等化学修复方法，但大规模使用成本太高。我们实验室最近的工作表明，向受油砂过程影响的水中添加提取过程废物（石油焦）有望成为有效吸附污染物的廉价方法。然而，众所周知，石油焦在与受油砂工艺影响的水接触时会滤出无机化合物（例如钒），这需要后续处理。处理油砂废物的一种低成本修复选择是利用能够降解适当污染物的微生物。 该发现计划的主要目标是 1) 研究终坑湖中发生的生物地球化学反应； 2) 确定微生物群落或个体有机体能够降解污染物，并在将受油砂工艺影响的水封入终坑湖之前或期间加强对受油砂工艺影响的水的修复。这项研究的短期成果将包括 1) 加深对终坑湖内污染物通量和生物地球化学的了解； 2) 评估本土微生物群落和分离生物降解相关污染物的能力； 3) 评估在封入终坑湖之前使用石油焦与钒生物修复相结合有效处理受油砂工艺影响的水的可行性。从长远来看，这项研究将增强我们对自然生物修复过程的了解，并为我们提供监测和提高回收活动的有效性和时间表的工具。