title: Desalination of oil sands process-affected water and basal depressurization water in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada: application of electrodialysis.
abstract: The high content of inorganic species in water used to extract bitumen from the Alberta oil sands and in the groundwater below the oil sands is an increasing environmental concern. These water matrices require treatment before they can be reused or safely discharged. Desalination of the oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) and groundwater, or basal depressurization water (BDW), can be accomplished with deionization techniques such as electrodialysis (ED). In order to achieve the effective ED treatment, OSPW and BDW were pretreated with coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation to remove solid species and turbidity. We demonstrated that a conductivity range for industrial reuse of OSPW and BDW can be achieved with the ED treatment and showed the possibility of applying ED in the oil sands industry. A continuous ED system that reuses the diluate stream as a source for the concentrate stream was designed. The cost of a hypothetical ED water treatment plant in Fort McMurray, Alberta, was estimated to be C$10.71 per cubic meter of treated water.
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2W2 E-mail: yang.liu@ualberta.ca; Department of Environmental System Engineering, Chonnam National University, Yeosu, Jeonnam, South Korea 550-749.
authors.forename: Eun-Sik
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2W2 E-mail: yang.liu@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Shimiao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2W2 E-mail: yang.liu@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2W2 E-mail: yang.liu@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gamal El-Din
mesh_terms: D000416:Alberta; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D061329:Oil and Gas Fields; D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical