NSERC Alliance Missions

Below is the outline of our three-part ongoing projects to create a novel holistic model. These projects include methane biogenesis in laboratory settings, air quality monitoring, and aquatic toxicology assessment in oil sands processed-affected water (OSPW).

Project 1: Methane Biogenesis in Laboratory Settings 

Studying the core of methane production from OSTP and EPL is critical for developing sustainable strategies to mitigate methane production in situ. In laboratory settings, we have recreated anoxic environments in serum bottles using tailing samples to measure the degradation kinetics of different hydrocarbons in diverse conditions. These hydrocarbons, mainly constituted by fugitive diluents used during the bitumen extraction from oil sands, are degraded by microorganisms and produce methane at a given rate.  However, methane biogenesis rate depends on different conditions, including temperature, redox potential, and nutrient availability. Currently, we have a set of experiments under such conditions to measure hydrocarbon degradation kinetics and methane emissions rate and characterize the microorganisms involved with DNA analysis. These experiments will enable us to upgrade our current mechanistic mathematical models for methane predictions in OSTP and EPL and predict hydrocarbon degradation and methane emissions rates in situ. Furthermore, developing different strategies to mitigate methane produced considering diverse redox potentials or manipulating critical features in OSTP will be possible based on the experimental data collected. The objectives of this subproject are to create accurate predictions on methane biogenesis production through mass-balance and stoichiometric modelling with projections in situ and provide a strong background on possible sustainable strategies to mitigate such GHG. 

Project 2: Air Quality Monitoring

Environmental features and different industry necessities, such as weather conditions and increased seasonal bitumen production, may affect the methane biogenesis rate from OSTP and EPL. Then, the accuracy and validation of our mathematical model predictions will be subject to essential unveiled correlations of critical features and necessities from extensive data processing. This subproject aims first to use data mining to collect publicly available data, including satellite imagery, and investigate correlations that promote methane production in oil sands territories using machine learning. The results will be necessary for future development and directions to methane mitigation strategies. Furthermore, we aim to deploy real-time methane and hydrocarbon IoT devices to collect, monitor and process data from oil sands territories using powerful AI algorithms. The objectives of this subproject encompass data analysis from diverse sources to increase our predictive power and generate standardized protocols for air quality monitoring. 

Project 3: Aquatic Toxicology Assessment in OSWP

Alberta province demands 100% of reclaimed land from oil sand companies after its use for bitumen extraction, and different remediation technologies, including EPL, are under constant monitoring since they remain unfeasible for sustaining healthy ecological systems. Methane production and emerging bitumen mats from the bottom of the EPL to the surface of the capping water that encloses tailings may degrade environmental sustainability overall. For example, it is known that spilled diluted bitumen directly impacts the behaviour of invertebrate species such as zebrafish. This subproject will aim to research how methane and bitumen may affect aquatic subsystems, extending previous results into the OSPW context. We are currently working on a new set of experiments that will allow us to understand how zebrafish will be affected by unfavourable environmental settings commonly encountered in EPL. This subproject aims to find toxic thresholds by which simplified aquatic systems can be maintained healthy. Our results will contribute directly to the land reclamation scenarios by building strategic incentives to mitigate oil sand-derived toxic materials in body waters.