Suncor pitches new approach

Dave Cooper, October 24, 2009, Edmonton Journal--In a move that sets a new standard for the oilsands industry, Suncor Energy on Friday unveiled a novel way to speed the reclamation of tailings ponds.

The technique suggests a future with fewer ponds, and reclamation beginning in as few as seven years compared with the 40 years it now takes.

“Suncor’s proposal raises the bar for all companies operating in the oilsands,” said Simon Dyer, oilsands program director with the Pembina Institute, an environmental group.

“No other company is planning this,” he said, adding that other oilsands companies should now be expected to match Suncor’s system, if it works as promised.

Suncor applied to the Energy Resources Conservation Board to be allowed to use the patented technology, which has been under study since 2003.

The process is part of the submission Suncor made this month to the ERCB.

The board is reviewing proposals from all six oilsands companies on how they will meet tougher new standards for tailings pond reclamations.

Suncor’s new approach allows mature fine tailings, which take years to settle out, to be pumped from the ponds.

A polymer clumping agent is added, and the thick, soupy material — which is about 40 per cent clay and 60 per cent water — is then deposited in thin layers over sand beaches with shallow slopes in a contained area, much like a landfill site.

Thanks to the polymer, the water quickly separates from the claylike tailings and flows to collection pipes, which return it to the bitumen processing plant.

In just a month, the tailings are dry enough to be walked on.

The site is then turned over and over with discing equipment, and when totally dry the material is removed and used for construction projects around the site.

Suncor expects to repeat the process — called tailings reduction operations — every year, and compares the operation to farming.