University of Alberta environmental engineering professor talks tailings ponds and the treatment of oilsands water

University of Alberta environmental engineering professor Mohamed Gamal El-Din is an expert on treating water stored in oilsands tailings ponds.

Gamal El-Din, who is also Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada research chair in oilsands water treatment and reclamation, is working with a dozen students on new ways to protect environmental and public health.

He’s also hoping to develop methods to recycle or safely discharge water used in oilsands processes.

Here’s an edited, condensed version of an interview with Gamal El-Din.

Q What are some of the concerns about the tailings ponds in Alberta’s oilsands?

A From my perspective, having huge tailings ponds like that is at least an eyesore. They have to be reclaimed back to the natural environment.

If wildlife is exposed to them, that would be an environmental impact … Mostly they’re fenced off, although birds can fly into them.

There are huge volumes

of liquid stored. The first environmental challenge is to separate the tailings from the water, and then manage the tailings and the water.

Q What are the main methods of treating the water?

A They range from active treatment, where you have an engineered treatment system like a sewage plant, to passive treatment, where you construct an engineered wetland or in-pit lake and supervise it to make sure it works, and then leave it … My job is to create as many solutions as possible.

Q What are the differences between these approaches?

A Active treatment takes more energy and human input, but uses less space and works more quickly. Passive treatment takes less human interaction and energy, but takes longer.

Q What is your role in this field?

A There are no standards to which tailings water must be treated before it’s released.

My job is to supply options for companies and Alberta Environment for how to take different chemicals out of the water, and then they look at which works best for their needs.

None of the tailings water has been treated, but researchers have been doing experiments and working on pilot projects. It can take years to find out what will work. We need to get there as soon as possible.