Theses and Dissertations
This collection contains theses and dissertations of graduate students of the University of Alberta. The collection contains a very large number of theses electronically available that were granted from 1947 to 2009, 90% of theses granted from 2009-2014, and 100% of theses granted from April 2014 to the present (as long as the theses are not under temporary embargo by agreement with the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies). IMPORTANT NOTE: To conduct a comprehensive search of all UofA theses granted and in University of Alberta Libraries collections, search the library catalogue at www.library.ualberta.ca - you may search by Author, Title, Keyword, or search by Department.
To retrieve all theses and dissertations associated with a specific department from the library catalogue, choose 'Advanced' and keyword search "university of alberta dept of english" OR "university of alberta department of english" (for example). Past graduates who wish to have their thesis or dissertation added to this collection can contact us at erahelp@ualberta.ca.
Items in this Collection
- 1Afshar, Shima
- 1Amani, Mohammad Javad
- 1Anas Khalil Sidahmed
- 1Bhushan, Vivek
- 1Black, Meghan E
- 1Bu, Weida
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Fall 2011
The growing interest in the oilsands bitumen reserves, a large portion of which is unattainable by current industrial processes, has generated a need for an improved process for oilsands extracting and upgrading. The effects of using chabazite as a catalyst for cracking and upgrading of oilsands...
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Fall 2023
At the heart of heavy oil and bitumen upgrading, thermal conversion technologies are found. One such process is visbreaking where bitumen is thermally converted into lighter materials. However, the conversion by visbreaking is limited by the onset of the formation of solid carbonaceous materials...
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Colloid Science of Sand Remediation: A Study Motivated by the Non-Aqueous Extraction of Bitumen from Oil Sands
DownloadFall 2014
The current water-based method of bitumen extraction requires withdrawal of fresh water from the Athabasca River — a practice which leads to the continual buildup of tailings ponds and other environmental concerns. As Alberta’s bitumen production is expected to more than double by 2020, there is...
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Fall 2013
Bitumen, as one of the most important unconventional sources of energy, has long been an attractive source for production of liquid fuels. It is important to improve the yield and quality of the useful products resulting from bitumen upgrading processes so that the best outcome can be achieved...
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Development of an Experimental Apparatus for Studying the Effects of Acoustic Excitation on Viscosity
DownloadFall 2012
An experimental apparatus was developed capable of measuring changes in fluid viscosity occurring due to acoustic stimulation. Controls allowed measurements at simulated oil sand reservoir pressures and temperatures with near real-time data visualization. Calibration was performed...
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Development of Solvent Selection Criteria Based on Diffusion Rate, Mixing Quality, and Solvent Retrieval for Optimal Heavy-Oil and Bitumen Recovery at Different Temperatures
DownloadFall 2015
Heavy-oil and bitumen recovery requires high recovery factors to offset the extreme high cost of the process. Attention has been given to solvent injection for this purpose and it has been observed that high recoveries are achievable when combined with steam injection. Heavier (“liquid”) solvents...
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Fall 2020
Concerns over the environmental impacts of thermal production methods for bitumen and heavy oil have led to the exploration of alternative technologies including solvent-assisted production methods. While solvent-assisted production methods have been studied extensively, apparent diffusion rates...
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Fall 2009
The extraction of bitumen (heavy oil) from the oil sands is predominantly achieved through a water-based technology. This involves a slurrying process, typically called conditioning, which is categorized into three equally important steps: bitumen-sand liberation, bitumen coalescence, and...
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Spring 2014
In bitumen recovery from oil sands, a percentage of the bitumen is lost to tailings. The effect of fugitive bitumen on fines settling and consolidation in tailings ponds remains controversial. In the current study, the settling performance of mature fine tailings (MFT) in response to flocculant...