Biological Pretreatment of Plant 6 Tailings

This project involved a two-phase microbial pre-treatment strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from froth treatment tailings (FTT) at Syncrude’s plant 6. Phase I involved optimized batch incubations and Phase II employed a semi-continuous stirred tank bioreactor. Aerobic biodegradation technology was used to break down labile naphtha hydrocarbons via microbes. This process also involved nutrient amendments (nitrogen and phosphorus) and aeration. Methane production potential and concentrations of several toxic or carcinogenic compounds in the tailings were reduced using this approach.

Aerobic microbiological pre-treatment of froth treatment tailings significantly reduced methane emissions and lowered toxicity by degrading numerous harmful naphtha hydrocarbons. These results support further investigation into scaling and optimizing bioreactor operations for improved tailings management.