Microbially-mediated de-watering and consolidation (“Biodensification”) of oil sands mature fine tailings, amended with agri-business by-products

Nova Scientia

Marcela Cárdenas-Manríquez¹  Selma Guigard²  Eleisha Underwood²  Julia M. Foght³  Kathleen M. Semple³  Rajender Gupta³  Tariq Siddique³  David C. Bressler³  Carmen Li³  Rozlyn F. Young³  Debora Coy³ 

[1] Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico de Celaya.University of Alberta, Edmonton;University of Alberta School of Mining & Petroleum Engineering, Edmonton;University of Alberta, Edmonton;

关键词: biodensification;    oil sands tailings;    anaerobic biodegradation;    methanogens;    petroleum;   

DOI  :  10.21640/ns.v12i24.2243

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Oil sands surface mining operations in northeastern, Alberta, Canada produce enormous volumes of fluid fine tailings, an aqueous suspension of fine clays, sand, unrecovered bitumen, and diluent hydrocarbons. The tailings are deposited and retained on-site in large settling basins where the colloidal solids sediment and consolidate very slowly by gravity and pore water collects at the surface for re-use. Tailings ‘biodensification’, mediated by indigenous microbes that produce methane and/or carbon dioxide, is a phenomenon observed in situ and in vitro whereby tailings with active anaerobic microbial communities consolidate and de-water faster than predicted by gravitational (self-weighted) consolidation alone. To exploit this phenomenon, we used organic amendments to stimulate endogenous anaerobic tailings microorganisms. Tailings from three different operators were amended with agri-business by-products, placed in 100-mL microcosms and 1.5-L settling columns, and monitored for methanogenesis, pore water recovery, and solids densification. Several amendments increased methane production and accelerated biodensification compared to unamended and negative controls. Hydrolyzed canola, blood meal, bone meal and glycerol generally accelerated biodensification, stimulated methane production and supported growth of methanogens and fermentative microbes. Amendment altered the chemistry of the tailings, generally decreasing pH, increasing conductivity and magnesium, potassium, sodium, and bicarbonate concentrations. Biodensification is a potential engineered technology for accelerating water recovery and reducing the volume of stored oil sands tailings.

【 授权许可】

Unknown