CMMB 545 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Methanogenesis, Methane Emissions, Asphalt
20 Jun 2020
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Tailings ponds are giant holding areas that store liquid and solid wastes that result from surface mining of bitumen. Fines in tailings ponds take long time to settle. First observation that microorganisms have an impact on densi cation came from studies done almost 20 years ago in which different columns were prepared with different oil sands tailings samples. It was noted that some ponds produce lots of methane. So study was done to see the impact of methanogenesis on tailings material. Prepared anoxic columns with different samples to study methane emissions and to see if methanogenic activity has any other impact on tailings. Ne tailings) and ct (consolidated tailings containing sulfate). Packed both into a column then monitored methane and co2 for 30 days. Found that in columns producing lots of methane showed increased densi cation. There was 8% increase in nes densi cation after 1 year incubation in methanogenic conditions, suggesting that methanogenesis lead to increased densi cation effect.
