OSRIN Technical Reports

2013-11-29

Iqbal, M., Veinot, J.G.C., Purkait, T.K., Goss, G.G.

Oil sands are naturally occurring mixtures of sand or clay, water, fine silts, and bitumen. The oil sands extraction process consumes large volumes of water (i.e., ca. 3 barrels of fresh water for every 1 barrel of oil). Following the extraction of bitumen from the oil sands, a tailings slurry...

2013-12-20

Gould, K., Wood, S., Smreciu, A.

Oil sands reclamation guidance documents prepared by the Cumulative Environmental Management Association and endorsed by the provincial government include lists of potential reclamation species and their characteristics (Alberta Environment 2008, 2010). This report consolidates and updates...

2014-12-31

Mackenzie, M.D., Lanoil, B., Hofstetter, S., Hatam, I.

Land reclamation of oil sands disturbed boreal forests in Alberta is a challenging task facing companies with surface mine leases. The government requires reclamation to equivalent land capability, which is a vague statement at best. Agronomic theories and methodologies have been applied in the...

2012-05-31

Mian, H., Currie, R., Zhao, B.

The purpose of this report is to identify challenges in analyzing naphthenic acids (NAs) associated with oil sands process water (OSPW). Naphthenic acids are present naturally in oil sands bitumen and have the classical formula CnH2n+ZO2. Within this formula n represents the carbon number and Z...

2014-12-15

Gibson, J., Birks, J., Cho, S., Taylor, E., Yi, Y.

This study was conducted to characterize the composition of polar dissolved organic compounds present in snow and surface waters in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) with the goal of identifying whether atmospherically-derived organics present in snow are an important contributor to the...

2013-10-10

Gibson, J.J., Yi, Y., Cho, S., Birks, S.J., Hazewinkel, R.

This pilot study was conducted by Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF) to characterize the composition of organics present in snow and surface waters in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) with the goal of identifying whether atmospherically-derived organics present in snow are a...

2011-02-16

Davies, J., Eaton, B.

Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures (AITF) conducted a review of microbial Community Level Physiological Profiling (CLPP) as a means of monitoring aquatic ecosystem health for the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN). Relevant research was compiled from journal articles, the...

2014-12-19

Oil Sands Research and Information Network, Alberta Centre for Reclamation and Restoration Ecology

One of the core mandates for the Oil Sands Research and Information Network (OSRIN) was to enhance access to oil sands environmental management information. With OSRIN’s mandate ending December 31, 2014 OSRIN sought a partner with a similar philosophy to provide an archive for the website...

2014-11-27

Alessi, D.S., Alam, M S., Kohler, M.C.

The objective of this 6-month pilot experimental study was to test the ability of biochars derived from Alberta biomass and an oil sands petroleum coke to remove selected organic acids from water. To this end, we selected one biochar produced from wheat straw and made by the Alberta Biochar...

2013-10-18

DeCorby, R.G.

The oil sands industry in Alberta produces large volumes of process-affected water (PAW), which is known to contain heavy metals and organic compounds (such as naphthenic acids, naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, etc.) that are toxic and hazardous to the environment. The industry has an ongoing...