Bugs and veggies as a progressive dewatering technology for untreated tailings

昆虫和蔬菜作为未经处理尾矿的渐进式脱水技术

• 批准号: 548373-2019
• 负责人: Bajic, Jelena
• 金额: $ 5.46万
• 依托单位: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=722435
• 关键词: Bugs; veggies; progressive; dewatering; technology

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

油砂行业的尾矿库存超过1.21 BM3（OSIP.ALBERTA.CA）。该体积的多数被存储为成熟的细尾矿（MFT），这是一种稳定的浆液悬浮液，含有〜30％的固体，可以持续数十年。通过加速脱水和固定速率来减少存储的尾矿的体积是油砂算子的高度优先级。然而，几种尾矿治疗技术已经开发来解决这个问题，但是，当前的实施成本限制了其大规模部署。预览的研究表明，可以将植物用作一种成本效益的尾矿封顶或脱水技术，通过将悬挂的水捕获到悬浮液中，并通过evapotranspiration通过固定的固体和sheal shear shore将其释放到环境中，从而使其逐渐释放到环境中。拟议的研究基于以前的工作，在该研究中，本地，高地，北方植物的物种成功地增强了修订，例如蛋白质和水解蛋白质，以脱水的增稠尾矿和离心蛋糕。通过目标未经处理的MFT，这项拟议的研究旨在开发一种逐渐介导的植物介导的脱水技术，能够在液体MFT表面支撑植物。此外，我们将优化养殖和有机修正案，以增强植物的生长，并研究通过检查植物和土壤中的养分含量以及与根无菌微生物的基因表达来增强植物体生长的机制。我们还将寻求了解治疗方法如何影响从尾矿进入植物的盐，金属和碳氢化合物的吸收。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计划和北艾伯塔省技术研究所（NAIT）的油砂可持续性（NAIT）的专业知识。如果成功，该项目将导致有效的，进行性脱水的原型，能够被动地将尾矿变成适合开垦的土壤系统，并且可扩展到现场部署