For 3 years starting in April 1989, in a 17-station, in-centre haemodialysis unit at the Toronto Western Hospital, re-use of dialysers was performed using the Renatron-2 Dialyser Reprocessing System with peracetic acid as a sterilant. During this period 40,234 treatments were carried out and dialysers were used an average of 4.2 times. Net savings, after taking into account the total costs of re-use, averaged Can $309,000,000 per year. There were no deaths and no discernible morbidity attributable to the practice of re-use. We conclude that dialyzer re-use is an effective way to reduce the costs of haemodialysis and is entirely safe providing that it is carried out properly.

With the advent of Energy Resources Conservation Board of Alberta (ERCB) Directive 074, there has been increased pressure on oil sands operators to find practical, field proven solutions to deal with tailings management. While significant research and development has gone into understanding the characteristics of oil sands tailings materials and their subsequent behaviours in the field, there are still uncertainties. All operations will need to dewater their oil sands tailings in some manner to produce a material that will gain strength over time. There is great interest among oil sands companies to investigate and potentially apply different dewatering techniques for surface disposal of their waste materials. This paper presents the highlights of lab and field testing programs that have focused on thickening the multiple tailings streams that are produced by oil sands operators. Each tailings stream has its challenges and these will be discussed in the context of various dewatering methods that have been trialled. In addition, some focus will be put on how to employ these dewatering methodologies to compliment deposition strategies.

No abstract