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Skip to Search Results- 1Afshar, Shima
- 1Aghaie, Ermia
- 1Baker, Kathleen E.N.
- 1Brandon, Jordan T
- 1Brown, Daniel M.
- 1Chen, Huanchen
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Applications of Remote Hyperspectral Sensing in the Characterization of Alberta's Oil Sands Tailings
DownloadSpring 2016
The bitumen production from oil sands surface-mining operations produces large volumes of mineral wastes called tailings. Characterization of the oil sands tailings is of importance to monitor their state for trafficability and reclamation issues, to assess the tailings operation performance, and...
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Spring 2015
The minable oil sands extraction process can be understood on a scale of a single oil sand grain. When the oil sand ore is mixed with warm water, each sand granule is initially covered with bitumen film which ruptures under the composite effect of shear and interfacial forces, while water...
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Rheology of Bitumen at the Onset of Asphaltene Aggregation and its Effects on the Stability of Water-in-Oil Emulsion
DownloadFall 2015
Asphaltenes are the heaviest fraction of bitumen. Asphaltenes not only play an important role in the high viscosity of bitumen but also in the water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion stability. Nevertheless, their exact function in the stability mechanism of W/O emulsion still remains unresolved. It is...
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Influence of Amendments and Soil Depth on Available Nutrients and Microbial Dynamics in Contrasting Topsoil Materials Used for Oil Sands Reclamation
DownloadFall 2015
As of December 2013, the cumulative area disturbed by oil sands mining in NE Alberta was 896 km2 out of an estimated final footprint of 4,800 km2 – all of which will require reclamation. Expensive handling costs and scarce soil resources necessitate judicious management and application of...
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Fall 2015
Drop transfer from one solid surface to another through stretching liquid bridges between them is important for many industrial applications. Due to the different dominate forces, three possible regimes exist: Quasi-static Regime, where the transfer process is only dominated by surface forces;...
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A Study on the Effect of Temperature and Pressure on the Removal of Cyclohexane from Non-Aqueous Extraction Gangue
DownloadSpring 2015
Solvent based extraction has the potential to supplant the current hot water based extraction process as the industry standard method for recovering bitumen from mined oil sand. It has the potential for higher bitumen recovery that is less sensitive to the grade of oil sand ore being processed....
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Oil Upgrading by Molecular Rearrangement and Cracking: A Study Using Model Compounds and Natural Chabazite
DownloadFall 2015
As demand for fuel increases, new technologies that can convert heavy oil and bitumen into light fuels are needed. Natural zeolites have been proven to catalyze reactions that decrease molecular weight, density, nitrogen, and metals content as well as vacuum residue content when mixed with raw...
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Fabrication and Characterization of Photolithographically Patterned Rough Surfaces Demonstrating Extreme Contact Angle Behavior
DownloadFall 2014
This thesis features experimental work done to fabricate and characterize silicon surfaces patterned using photolithographic techniques, both standard and novel, to produce a variety of surfaces with roughness of controlled geometric properties. In specific, one set of the surfaces fabricated...
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Fall 2014
The extraction of bitumen from oil sands in Alberta, Canada, leads to the creation of tailings that are contained in lake-sized ponds under zero discharge policy. Stratification of tailings over time leads to the formation of mature fine tailings (MFT), an oil based emulsion containing residual...
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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...