The objective of this report is intended to be a technology deployment roadmap for "end to end" solutions for oil sands tailings. This technology deployment roadmap and action plan that will assist regulators and industry to create and implement technology solutions that will meet the goals of Alberta Environment (AEW) Directive 047. The report is broken into 4 components that includes a review of current technologies used in the oil sands industry, evaluation of these technologies, and highlights technologies to improve upon existing methods.
Component 3 of the Oil Sands Tailings Technology Deployment Roadmap. This report intended to develop a method to evaluate the identified tailings technologies to determine their strengths and weaknesses, in light of specific criteria provided by Component 2, and then to evaluate the technologies using the developed methodology. Eight categories of technologies (mining, extraction and bitumen recovery, tailings processing, deposition and capping, water treatment, reclamation, and technology suites) were sub-divided into three categories (commercial, development, and research).
Copmonent 4 of the Oild Sands Tailings Technology Deployment Roadmap. This report intends to identify technologies and/or suites of technologies which could improve the ability of tailings management practices to meet the previously defined goals, and the pathways by which they could be brought through the research and development process to commercial implementation.
COSIA's Innovation Opportunities provide focused, actionable descriptions of the current state of opportunities related to environmental processes and impacts of the oil sands industry. Each represents a possibility that, if realized, would contribute towards the achievement of COSIA's environmental aspirations.