Moussa Samar G, Staebler Ralf M, You Yuan, Leithead Amy, Yousif Meguel A, Brickell Peter, Beck James, Jiang Zhimei, Liggio John, Li Shao-Meng, Wren Sumi N, Brook Jeffrey R, Darlington Andrea, Cober Stewart G
Air Quality Processes Research Section, Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 4905 Dufferin Street, Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4, Canada.
Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, Alberta T2P 3Y7, Canada.
Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Oct 5;55(19):12831-12840. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c02325. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
Tailings ponds in the oil sands (OS) region in Alberta, Canada, have been associated with fugitive emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other pollutants to the atmosphere. However, the contribution of tailings ponds to the total fugitive emissions of VOCs from OS operations remains uncertain. To address this knowledge gap, a field study was conducted in the summer of 2017 at Suncor's Pond 2/3 to estimate emissions of a suite of pollutants including 68 VOCs using a combination of micrometeorological methods and measurements from a flux tower. The results indicate that in 2017, Pond 2/3 was an emission source of 3322 ± 727 tons of VOCs including alkanes, aromatics, and oxygenated and sulfur-containing organics. While the total VOC emissions were approximately a factor of 2 higher than those reported by Suncor, the individual VOC species emissions varied by up to a factor of 12. A chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model was used to estimate the contribution of the tailings pond to VOC pollution events in a nearby First Nations and Metis community in Fort McKay. CMB results indicate that Suncor Pond 2/3 contributed up to 57% to the total mass of VOCs measured at Fort McKay, reinforcing the importance of accurate VOC emission estimation methods for tailings ponds.
加拿大艾伯塔省油砂（OS）地区的尾矿池与挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）及其他污染物向大气的无组织排放有关。然而，尾矿池对油砂作业中VOCs总无组织排放的贡献仍不确定。为填补这一知识空白，2017年夏天在森科尔公司的2/3号尾矿池开展了一项实地研究，通过结合微气象学方法和通量塔测量来估算包括68种VOCs在内的一系列污染物的排放量。结果表明，2017年，2/3号尾矿池是包括烷烃、芳烃、含氧和含硫有机物在内的3322±727吨VOCs的排放源。虽然VOCs总排放量约比森科尔公司报告的高出1倍，但个别VOC物种的排放量差异高达12倍。使用化学质量平衡（CMB）受体模型来估算尾矿池对麦克凯堡附近一个原住民和梅蒂斯社区VOC污染事件的贡献。CMB结果表明，森科尔2/3号尾矿池对在麦克凯堡测量的VOCs总质量的贡献高达57%，这凸显了准确估算尾矿池VOCs排放方法的重要性。
