CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada, 1 Oil Patch Drive, Devon, Alberta T9G 1A8, Canada.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2013 Jul;15(7):1411-23. doi: 10.1039/c3em00089c.
Oil sand tailings pond water contains naphthenic acids and process chemicals (e.g., alkyl sulphates, quaternary ammonium compounds, and alkylphenol ethoxylates). These chemicals are toxic and can seep through the foundation of the tailings pond to the subsurface, potentially affecting the quality of groundwater. As a result, it is important to measure the thermodynamic and transport parameters of these chemicals in order to study the transport behavior of contaminants through the foundation as well as underground. In this study, batch adsorption studies and column experiments were performed. It was found that the transport parameters of these chemicals are related to their molecular structures and other properties. The computer program (CXTFIT) was used to further evaluate the transport process in the column experiments. The results from this study show that the transport of naphthenic acids in a glass column is an equilibrium process while the transport of process chemicals seems to be a non-equilibrium process. At the end of this paper we present a real-world case study in which the transport of the contaminants through the foundation of an external tailings pond is calculated using the lab-measured data. The results show that long-term groundwater monitoring of contaminant transport at the oil sand mining site may be necessary to avoid chemicals from reaching any nearby receptors.
油砂尾矿池水中含有环烷酸和工艺化学品（例如烷基硫酸盐、季铵化合物和烷基酚聚氧乙烯醚）。这些化学物质具有毒性，可能会渗透到尾矿池的地基下，从而影响地下水的质量。因此，测量这些化学物质的热力学和输运参数对于研究污染物通过地基和地下的迁移行为非常重要。在这项研究中，进行了批量吸附研究和柱实验。结果表明，这些化学物质的输运参数与其分子结构和其他特性有关。该计算机程序（CXTFIT）用于进一步评估柱实验中的输运过程。研究结果表明，在玻璃柱中，环烷酸的输运是一个平衡过程，而工艺化学品的输运似乎是一个非平衡过程。本文最后介绍了一个实际案例研究，其中使用实验室测量的数据计算了污染物通过外部尾矿池地基的迁移。结果表明，在油砂开采现场，可能需要对污染物的迁移进行长期地下水监测，以避免化学物质到达任何附近的受体。
