Treatment wetlands have emerged as a potential treatment option for oil sands process-affected waters (OSPW) produced from bitumen extraction by the oil sands industry. Of particular interest is the removal of naphthenic acids (NAs), which are widely acknowledged as the primary constituents of toxicity in OSPW. Studies have demonstrated the capacity for NA removal in […]

Pyrolysis uses high temperatures, in the absence of oxygen, to crack long and complex molecures into smaller molecules.  It has been successfully and separately applied to both (a) heavy oils, to produce lighter liquid fractions and solid coke byproduct in conventional oil refineries, and to (b) biomass, to convert solid residues into liquid bio-oils.  Pyrolytic […]

The proposed research project is aimed at enhancing our understanding of interactions of several biodegradable low molecular weight polymers with the different components of aqueous oil sand suspensions. The work is designed to assess the effect of the polymers on a number of fundamental phenomena that govern several unit operations during oil sands processing and […]

Topsoil is vital to the revegetation success of land affected by oil and gas wellsites and borrow pits. Therefore, the Government of Alberta’s guidelines require that 80% of the topsoil is replaced during revegetation. However, finding topsoil to meet the guidelines is challenging in cases where topsoil was not salvaged during excavation and where salvaged […]

Additive manufacturing that is commonly called 3D printing has been identified as the 3rd industrial revolution because the outstanding flexibility that it brings to designer in the industry. Because the part is printed layer by layer, almost any complex geometry that can?t be made by conventional methods can be fabricated in a wide range of […]

The development of the oil sands has led to a large consumption of freshwater in Canada. The wastewater that is produced is contaminated with many industrial pollutants leading the provincial government of Alberta to issue a “zero-discharge” policy for untreated wastewater. This project will investigate treatment wetlands as an option for reclaiming oil sands-related wastewater. […]