Field trials on a “consortium” of bacteria that thrive on naphthenic acids are set to begin this summer in northeastern Alberta with a major oilsands bitumen producer.
UBC engineers are using directed evolution and genomic tools to encourage naturally occurring bacteria to eat the toxins in oilsands tailings ponds.
While much of the water used in the process can be recycled, there are vast ponds full of contaminated water, silt and sand recovered from the extraction of bitumen. Some of the chemicals present in the water bioaccumulate in wildlife and tend not to degrade, even over decades. Oil firms are keen to encourage and fund an economical solution to what has emerged as the biggest headache in the oilsands’ industry, said Mike Schoen, a senior engineering instructor and former oil-industry executive.
Work on biological solutions have been going on for decades, but advances in genomics have produced powerful new tools for bioengineering.
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