Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility Interacting with Industry David Sego, Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Alberta

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1 Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility Interacting with Industry David Sego, Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Alberta CPANS 2011 Fall Technical Conference

2 Outline Introduction to Oil Sands Resourcer Production and Extraction via Mining Disturbance and Tailings Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility Summary

3 Canada s Oil Sands Resource Province of Alberta Athabasca Fort McMurray Peace River Wabasca Edmonton Cold Lake 1 Trillion barrels of reserve Oil Sands Deposits Calgary 3

4 Global Significance of Oil Sands Resource

5 Oil Sands- Insitu and Mining Frocast

6 Oil Sands Mining and Bitumen Extraction 6

7 nmdum Mining and Slurry Preparation Mining with large shovels and loading into trucks Crushing plant Hydro-transport via pipeline to PSV Slurry preparation plant

8 Bitumen Extraction Extracted bitumen in froth 1 Oil sands slurry feed Three Layers in a PSV (primary separation vessel) : 1 Froth 2 Middling 3 Tailings 2 3 Bitumen loss to tailings pond after secondary extraction Ref. : Application of Microcollider for the Study of Bitumen-Bitumen Interaction, by: Alex Wu* and Isabelle Laroche Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering University of Alberta

9 Land Disturbance 9

10 Challenges for Industry related to tailings ECRB s s Directive 74 requires deposit to have 5 kpa after 1 year and 10 kpa after 5 years MFT needs to be dewatered from 30% to 70 to 75 % solids to achieve 5 kpa. Requires removing water equal to 70 to 75% of original volume. Strength can be achieved using chemical additive but volume separation is usually not achieved. Chemical addition has impacts on recycle water

11 OSTRF Mission To carry out exploratory (fundamental) research on dewatering of oil sands tailings from bitumen separation to deposition and ultimately to restoration. To conduct innovative and novel research to develop the next generation of cost effective environmentally superior tailings. Evaluate novel tailings technology at pilot scale for field scale implementation. The research will be conducted in a nurturing academic environment by MSc and PhD students, Post Doctoral Fellows, and professors on sabbatical.

12 History of OSTRF Development: Late 1999 discussed concept with Ted Lord (Syncrude( Syncrude) 2000 encouragement and support Hassan Hamza (NRCanCanmet) Industry Support 2001 Application to Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) 2002 Funding Granted from CFI Funding granted from Alberta Science and Research Investment Program (ASRIP) Lease of Alberta Infrastructure space between UofA, NRCan and Alberta Research Council (ARC) Workshop with Industry to develop Research Themes Pilot Plant Design and Constructed Start of Funding of Graduate Student Projects Research Pilot Plant Opened 2010 Funding Renewed ( ) from Oil Sands Tailings Consortium

13 Oil Sands Tailings Research Facility Funding to build facility ( ): 2005): $800,000 from Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) $700,000 Natural Resources Canada (CANMET) $500,000 Alberta Science and Research Investment Program $350,000 from Industrial Albian,, CNRL, Suncor, Syncrude and True North, Total E & P, and FortHills (Suncor). Operation and Research Funding $350,000 per year from Industrial Albian,, CNRL, Suncor, Syncrude,, Total E & P, FortHills (Suncor), Alberta Energy Research Institute In-kind and building lease from NRCan,, ARC Alberta Innovates Operation and Research Funding $350,000 per year Oil Sands Tailings Consortium (OSTC) In-kind and building lease from NRCan,, Alberta Innovates

14 OSTRF Research Themes Outcome of Workshop on Research Needs held Nov 6, 2002 Tailings Production: MFT, CT, Paste, Separators and Thickeners Engineered Tailings: Deposition, Dewatering (Natural Processes), Rapid Progressive Reclamation Water: Recovery, Reuse and Release Interdependency: Extraction- Tailings- Environment via recycle water

15 OSTRF- Research Themes (cont.) Energy: Recovery and GHG Reduction Instrumentation: Tailings process, Disposal and Reclamation Regional Impacts/Development: Stakeholders, Landscapes and Certification By products contained in tailings and produced during extraction

16 Successes - Students 32 graduate student projects funded to date. 20 students graduated, 2 thesis completed and awaiting examination. (5 PhD and 15 MSc) All 20 students working with industry or carrying out PhD program (3) following MSc. 12 ongoing students (9 PhD and 3 MSc) Multidisciplinary research: geotechnical, geo- environmental, environmental, chemical, electrical, water resources engineering, biological sciences, and renewable resources

17 Successes Attraction of Funding $50,000 from Canadian School for Energy and the Environment (CSEE) in support of OSTRF Operations $50,000 from CSEE in support of Applied Geochemistry Labs Operations - supports student projects $50,000 from CSEE in support of Development of UVIF Measuring System $92,500 from NSERC Research Tool & Instruments for equipment to instrument columns and pumping tests at OSTRF

18 OSTRF Challenges going forward: Enhancing use of OSTRF unique research facilities by student projects. Widening the interest amongst young researchers to undertake projects on issues of Oil Sands Industry. Attracting Canadian Educated Students to carry out research projects on oil sand issues. Expanding funding of pstudents and projects via use of NSERC Industrial Post Graduate Scholarships and NSERC Collaborative Research and Development Grants

19 OSTRF Technology Transfer 7 - OSTRF- Student Industry Interaction Day Technical Demonstration Days in Devon Facility that brought together students and industry representatives. Organized 2008 and 2010 International Oil Sands Tailings Conference early 2012 call for abstracts Organized 2009 Tailings and Mine Waste Conference and 2013 conference will be held All papers and thesis from funded projects are distributed to sponsoring agency

20 OSTRF Industry Interaction All projects are approved by Management Committee with representation of sponsoring organizations. Projects initially vetted by Technical Committee prior to submission to Management Committee. Project scope and budget developed by supervising academic prior to being reviewed. Interested academic (if requested) matched with industrial colleague to assist and guide project development

21 OSTRF Sponsoring Organizations Albian Sands Canadian Natural Total E & P (Deer Creek) SUNCOR & Forthills (PetroCanada) SYNCRUDE NRCan- CANMET - Devon Alberta Research Council Alberta Energy Research Institute Alberta Innovates University of Alberta Canadian School for Energy and Environment Oil Sands Tailings Consortium National Science and Engineering Research Council

22 Summary Remarks Developing and guiding OSTRF has been both rewarding and challenging. Extensive upfront time to develop confidence of organization and get buy in of mission and goals required. Rewarding to assist in developing research interest of young academics with focus on oil sands Managing diverse expectations of students, academics and industry requires patience and time commitment. Success Success is development of future leaders for this important industry

23 OSTRF Questions?