Treatment and Management of Oil Sands Tailings Water for Detoxification and Decontamination Mohamed Gamal El-Din, Ph.D., P.Eng. Professor NSERC Senior IRC in Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment Helmholtz Alberta Initiative Lead (Theme 5) University of Alberta
Inventory Oil Sands Process-Affected Water (OSPW) OSPW is estimated to reach 1 billion m 3 in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region by 2025 OSPW has been reported to cause both acute and chronic toxicity to a variety of organisms (such as fish, amphibians, and mammals) Remediation strategies based on microbiological degradation are too slow to keep up and are ineffective to completely detoxify OSPW 2
Research Needs Fundamental and Applied Research Development of Emerging & Innovative Treatment & Management Technologies/ Strategies Minimization of any Possible Environmental and Health Impacts Associated with the Recycle and/or Safe Release of Treated OSPW 3
To Address These Needs An NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) was Established in 2010 Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment Supporting Organizations Syncrude Canada Ltd. Suncor Energy Inc. Shell Canada Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. Total E&P Canada Ltd. EPCOR Water Services Inc. IOWC Technologies Inc. (Canada) Alberta Innovates Energy and Environment Solutions Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development University of Alberta NSERC
NSERC IRC Vision Statement The vision of the NSERC Senior IRC Program in Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment is to contribute broadly to the research base, fundamental engineering and scientific knowledge, and foundational data that will lead to the environmentally and economically sustainable development of the oil sands operations The NSERC IRC Program aims to achieve this vision by developing and assessing innovative water treatment technologies and strategies and their applicability to oil sands operations for the potential possibility of the safe release of treated process-affected waters to the receiving environment that will help promote and protect both the environment and public health
NSERC IRC Program Objectives Overall Objective Treatment and Management Strategies for Recycle/Reuse and/or Safe Discharge of OSPW Short-Term Objectives Understanding Process Fundamentals New Treatment Technologies and Management Approaches Toxicity Reduction Water Quantity and Quality Modeling Human Health Risk Assessment Long-Term Objectives Scientific Foundation for the Sustainable and Integrated Management of Oil Sands Tailings Water Integration of Gained Knowledge into Applied Water Management by Oil Sands Industry Protection of the Environment and Human Health
Expected Outcomes Training a group of highly qualified personnel with interdisciplinary expertise Develop new treatment technologies Provide innovative multi-barrier treatment systems and management approaches Assist decision-makers to adopt sustainable development strategies 7
Interconnected Research Areas Characterization of Water Matrices Projects 1 to 20 Process Fundamentals Projects 2 to 11 Development of New Materials & Technologies Projects 4, 5, 10, 11 and 12 Residual Management Projects 1 to 20 Optimization of Treatment Processes Projects 15 to 17 Scale-up of Treatment Processes Projects 2, 3, 13, 14 and 17 Water Quantity and Quality Modeling Human Health Risk Assessment Project 18 Project 20 Toxicity Assessment and By-product Identification & Characterization Projects 3, 5 to 10, 12, 14 and 19
Training of HQP Total Number of HQP for the 5-year Program 3 Postdoctoral Fellows 10 Ph.D. Students 7 M.Sc. Students 2 Technical Assistants 2 Research Associates 1 Project Manager
Roles of AI-EES Alberta Innovates - Energy and Environment Solutions First NSERC IRC partner: Proposal focused on AOPs and ozone treatment Acts as an important partner to identify research gaps and apply cutting-edge water treatment technologies & strategies Provide technical & management expertise as part of IRC Program Management and Scientific Committees 10
Water Treatment Options Physical Treatment Sedimentation/Filtration Adsorption Membrane Filtration Ion Exchange Chemical Treatment Chemical Precipitation Ozonation Advanced Oxidation Process Hybrid Treatment Systems Engineered Biofilm Systems Fluidized-Bed Reactors Biologically Active Filters Biological Treatment
Hypothetical Treatment Train Oil Sands Tailings Water Ozonation Biofilm-Based Reactors Membrane Filtration O 3 Air Physico-Chemical Treatment New Adsorbent GAC Materials Adsorption Safe Discharge 12
Relative Response Relative Response Effect of Ozonation on NAs Speciation 8 6 4 Ozone preferentially reacts with NAs with higher Z number (i.e., higher number of rings) 2 0 8 7 9 11 -Z 13 15 0 17 19 21 n 90% Degradation of Total NAs NAs with high carbon numbers (n) are degraded more effectively than NAs with less carbon numbers 8 6 4 2 0 7 9 11 13 n 15 17 19 21 0 8-Z 13
Ion-Mobility MS High degradation levels of NAs and oxidized NAs after ozonation were found using ionmobility MS Fluorescence Contour Plots (Emission Mode) Synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy studies reveal that ozonation was effective in degrading PAHs at ozone concentrations of 20 mg/l 14
Toxic Effect After 15 min Exposure (%) Toxic Effects of Ozonated OSPW towards Vibrio fischeri 65 55 45 Microtox Standard Bioassay The toxicity of OSPW towards V. fischeri decreases after ozonation 35 25 15 5-5 0 20 40 60 80 100 Utilized Ozone Dose (mg/l) Other contaminants not effectively removed by ozonation may contribute to the toxic effect of OSPW
Nitrite (µm) RQ Immunotoxic Effects of Ozonated OSPW (in vitro and in vivo Bioassays) (a) 25 20 15 10 5 0 (-) (-) OSPW OSPW+O 3 Control LPS+IFNγ (a) Bone marrow-derived macrophages were exposed in vitro to the extracted organic fractions of OSPW or ozonated OSPW (OSPW+O 3 ), or left untreated (-). (b) 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 * * TNF-a TNF-α IFN-g IFNγ IL6 IL-6 Control OSPW OSPW+O 3 (b) Mice were orally exposed to the extracted organic fractions of OSPW or ozonated OSPW (OSPW+O 3 ). Mice exposed to the organic fraction of OSPW had reduced expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IFN in the liver Ozonation seems to be an adequate technique to reduce the mice immunotoxicity caused by OSPW
Concluding Remarks There is an urgent need for research to: (1) Elucidate the fundamentals of various treatment processes for treating OSPW (2) Develop innovative analytical and toxicological monitoring techniques for on-line process control and optimization (3) Predict possible risks associated with discharging treated OSPW into natural ecosystems to humans and aquatic species Multi-disciplinary research has started to develop innovative approaches for the decontamination and detoxification of OSPW 17
Acknowledgement Dr. Miodrag Belosevic s research group from the University of Alberta (toxicity assessments using mammals) Dr. Keith B. Tierney s research group from the University of Alberta (fish olfactory toxicity of OSPW ) My collaborators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and technical staff Funding Agencies Shell Canada
Thank you! For Additional Information: Mohamed Gamal El-Din, Ph.D., P.Eng. Professor, NSERC Senior Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sands Tailings Water Treatment Helmholtz Alberta Initiative Lead (Theme 5) Email: mgamalel-din@ualberta.ca Tel: (780) 492-5124 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Alberta 19