with
Randy Mikula, Natural Resources Canada
About 12 barrels of water are needed to produce
each barrel of bitumen from surface mined oil sands. Most
of this water can be recycled, but a significant portion
forms a mud-like suspension called fluid fine tailings.
These tailings are stored in above ground containment areas,
many of which are large enough to be visible from space.
Current proposals would see these tailings pumped back into
the mined-out area and covered with water to create an artificial
lake. While this form of reclamation seems economical, its
long term effectiveness and environmental sustainability
is largely unproven. This presentation will discuss the
progress that researchers and industry are making in dealing
with the accumulation of tailings and in developing alternative
management options that would lead to dry stackable tailings
and improved water recovery.
Dr. Randy Mikula is a team leader at Natural
Resources Canada's CANMET Energy Technology Centre in Devon
Alberta, where he has worked for more than 20 years researching
oil sands processing fundamentals from extraction to tailings
behaviour. For the last decade his interests have focused
on mitigating the environmental impact of surface mining.
He was elected as a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of
Canada in 2003.
This is the second of two talks
that PAGSE is offering this fall in relation to research
challenges for the oil sands.
Organized by: The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering
(PAGSE)
Sponsored by:
--the Speaker of the Senate
--the Speaker of the House of Commons
--Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
Date: Thursday, November 29, 2007 from 7:30 am - 9:00 am
Place: Room 200, West Block, Parliament Hill
Cost: No charge to Members of the House of Commons, Senators
and Media. All others $15
Registration: Please register by contacting Donna Boag,
PAGSE Coordinator: 613-991-6369, pagse@rsc.ca
Registration Deadline: Monday November 26th
