Project Overview

The increasing global energy demand has encouraged exploration and exploitation of unconventional oil reserves, such as oil sands in northern Alberta, Canada. Regardless of the type and source of energy, generation of process water is a major issue. Concerns exist about the environmental and human health impacts resulting from releasing process water into the environment due to its toxicity. Thus, water treatment processes that will speed up the transformation of tailings ponds into sustainable ecosystems are urgently needed. 

Through a multidisciplinary approach using a combination of advanced oxidation processes, electro-oxidation, adsorption, biofiltration, and biological processes, this research will help to minimize landscape disturbances caused by energy developments and improve waste management by reprocessing tailings, rehabilitating waste sites, and reducing waste.