In a presentation to challenge the tailings research community, the Alberta oil sand industry and regulators, John Sobkowicz asks whether an ingenuity gap exists in the tailings management solutions developed to date.
After 40 years, there have been successes in treating oil sands tailings. But at its core, getting fine clay to settle out of oil sands tailing water (fluid fine tailings, FFT) is not an impossible problem but it is still intractable. The scale of tailings ponds in NE Alberta are the evidence.
John Sobkowicz presents a questionnaire that asks what are the gaps to ingenuity in solving the fluid fine tailings treatment problem for Alberta's oil sands industry. He reviews the key four questions that resonated with a small group of industry experts. The challenges are not technical. He and his co-authors believe that financial incentives for advancing new technologies, a long term test facility and new approaches that widen the technology innovation roadmap are desirable. But his core appeal is for reflection, "removal of blinkers" and leadership from politicians, government and industry.
John Sobkowicz's presentation was part of the Oil Sands Tailings 2014 conference, Dec. 8-10, 2014, at Lake Louise Alberta.
