Emissions from oil sands tailings ponds: Review of tailings pond parameters and emission estimates

Small, Christina C.; Cho, Sunny; Hashisho, Zaher; Ulrich, Ania C.

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2014.11.020

Cited by 123 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The lower CH4 enhancement compared to Plume B suggests less CH4 is emitted from this pond, in agreement with Small et al (2015). The peak-to-peak CH4/BTEX ratios from Plume B and Plume C are ~300 ppb ppb -1 , and ~100 ppb ppb -1 respectively.…”

supporting

confidence: 79%

“…flowing into the pond (Small et al, 2015). This is similar to the chemical profile observed in Plume C, with a back-trajectory placing the air mass over one of several possible SUN facility tailings ponds shown in Figure 2 (Ponds 6, Pond 5 and Pond 2/3 in figure Small et al, 2015). This indicates the presence of CH4 emissions from multiple tailings ponds.…”

supporting

confidence: 68%

“…The overall uncertainty for computed CH4 emission rates for an individual determination was estimated to be less than 30% (see Supplemental for a complete evaluation and discussion of uncertainties). flowing into the pond (Small et al, 2015). This is similar to the chemical profile observed in Plume C, with a back-trajectory placing the air mass over one of several possible SUN facility tailings ponds shown in Figure 2 (Ponds 6, Pond 5 and Pond 2/3 in figure Small et al, 2015).…”

supporting

confidence: 64%

“…Oil extraction in the AOSR is unique in that unlike other oil and gas regions, CH4 is not the primary economic commodity being extracted, but is an unintended by-product. In particular, a significant fraction of the CH4 is not associated with fossil fuel reserves, but is emitted from tailings ponds (Small et al, 2015). Additional 25 fugitive CH4 is associated with the gaseous component of the oil sand along with other gases (Strausz, 2003;Johnson et al, 2016) In the summer of 2013, an intensive ambient air measurement campaign took place in the AOSR with both ground and airborne components in support of the Joint Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM) Plan (JOSM, 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Baray¹,

Darlington²,

Gordon³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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supporting

confidence: 79%

supporting

confidence: 68%

supporting

confidence: 64%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Baray¹,

Darlington²,

Gordon³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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“…The surface mining facilities are large in size, each encompassing an area of 66-275 km 2 and consisting of complex activities from ore mining, bitumen and sand separation, and upgrading to tailings management (5). Development on such large scales has increased concerns of its environmental impacts (6)(7)(8), including on air quality and human health. Key concerns are the amount and type of pollutants emitted into the environment and the accuracy of the emission reports (8).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Differences between measured and reported volatile organic compound emissions from oil sands facilities in Alberta, Canada

Leithead

Moussa

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

178

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Large-scale oil production from oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada has raised concerns about environmental impacts, such as the magnitude of air pollution emissions. This paper reports compound emission rates (E) for 69-89 nonbiogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for each of four surface mining facilities, determined with a top-down approach using aircraft measurements in the summer of 2013. The aggregate emission rate (aE) of the nonbiogenic VOCs ranged from 50 ± 14 to 70 ± 22 t/d depending on the facility. In comparison, equivalent VOC emission rates reported to the Canadian National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) using accepted estimation methods were lower than the aE values by factors of 2.0 ± 0.6, 3.1 ± 1.1, 4.5 ± 1.5, and 4.1 ± 1.6 for the four facilities, indicating underestimation in the reported VOC emissions. For 11 of the combined 93 VOC species reported by all four facilities, the reported emission rate and E were similar; but for the other 82 species, the reported emission rate was lower than E. The median ratio of E to that reported for all species by a facility ranged from 4.5 to 375 depending on the facility. Moreover, between 9 and 53 VOCs, for which there are existing reporting requirements to the NPRI, were not included in the facility emission reports. The comparisons between the emission reports and measurementbased emission rates indicate that improvements to VOC emission estimation methods would enhance the accuracy and completeness of emission estimates and their applicability to environmental impact assessments of oil sands developments.volatile organic compounds | emissions | emission inventory validation | oil sands | aircraft measurements

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Design of ionic liquids for dewatering stable solid/liquid complex slurries

et al. 2021

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Exploitation of mineable oil sands in Canada has thus far produced over 50 km 2 of tailings in ponds where the fine solids remain suspended for years, even decades. These ponds represent a major liability and environmental burden for operating companies, with their dewatering critical to their remediation. In this work, we used the chemistry of the tailing pond constituents to design an ionic liquid (IL) for dewatering the mature fine tailings (MFT), taking advantage of the ability to introduce unique and different functionalities into each ion of the IL. We chose a class of protic ILs whose ions will interact with the solids while rejecting water. As an example, octylammonium oleate can be used to remove more than 70% of the water from MFT. The nature of the ILs makes their use amenable to a variety of large-scale separation techniques allowing engineering versatility in the design of the final process.

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Emissions from oil sands tailings ponds: Review of tailings pond parameters and emission estimates

Cited by 123 publications

References 51 publications

Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Differences between measured and reported volatile organic compound emissions from oil sands facilities in Alberta, Canada

Design of ionic liquids for dewatering stable solid/liquid complex slurries

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