scholarly journals Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabour Baray ◽  
Andrea Darlington ◽  
Mark Gordon ◽  
Katherine L. Hayden ◽  
Amy Leithead ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Major Surface ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract. Aircraft-based measurements of methane (CH4) and other air pollutants in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) were made during a summer intensive field campaign between August 13 and September 7 2013, in support of the Joint Canada–Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring. Chemical signatures were used to identify CH4 sources from tailings ponds (BTEX VOC's), open-pit surface mines (NOy and rBC) and elevated plumes from bitumen upgrading facilities (SO2 and NOy). Emission rates of CH4 were determined for the five primary surface mining facilities in the region using two mass balance methods. Emission rates from source categories within each facility were estimated when plumes from the sources were spatially separable. Tailings ponds accounted for 45 % of total CH4 emissions measured from the major surface mining facilities in the region while emissions from operations in the open pit mines accounted for ~ 50 %. The average open pit surface mining emission rates ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 tonnes of CH4 hr−1 for different facilities in the AOSR. Amongst the 19 tailings ponds, Mildred Lake Settling Basin, the oldest pond in the region, was found to be responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of CH4 (> 70 %). The sum of measured emission rates of CH4 from the five major facilities, 19.2 ± 1.1 tonnes CH4 hr−1, was similar to a single mass balance determination of CH4 from all major sources in the AOSR determined from a single flight downwind of the facilities, 23.7 ± 3.7 tonnes CH4 hr−1. The measured hourly CH4 emission rate from all facilities in the AOSR is 48 ± 8 % higher than that extracted for 2013 from the Canadian Green House Gas Reporting Program, a legislated facility-reported Emissions Inventory, converted to hourly units. The measured emissions correspond to an emissions rate of 0.17 ± 0.01 Tg CH4 yr−1, if the emissions are assumed temporally constant, an uncertain assumption. The emission rates reported here are relevant for the summer season. In future, effort should be devoted to measurements in different seasons to further our understanding of seasonal parameters impacting fugitive emissions of CH4 and to allow better estimates of annual emissions and year to year variability.

scholarly journals Quantification of methane sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by aircraft mass balance

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 7361-7378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabour Baray ◽  
Andrea Darlington ◽  
Mark Gordon ◽  
Katherine L. Hayden ◽  
Amy Leithead ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Major Surface ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract. Aircraft-based measurements of methane (CH4) and other air pollutants in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) were made during a summer intensive field campaign between 13 August and 7 September 2013 in support of the Joint Canada–Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring. Chemical signatures were used to identify CH4 sources from tailings ponds (BTEX VOCs), open pit surface mines (NOy and rBC) and elevated plumes from bitumen upgrading facilities (SO2 and NOy). Emission rates of CH4 were determined for the five primary surface mining facilities in the region using two mass-balance methods. Emission rates from source categories within each facility were estimated when plumes from the sources were spatially separable. Tailings ponds accounted for 45 % of total CH4 emissions measured from the major surface mining facilities in the region, while emissions from operations in the open pit mines accounted for ∼ 50 %. The average open pit surface mining emission rates ranged from 1.2 to 2.8 t of CH4 h−1 for different facilities in the AOSR. Amongst the 19 tailings ponds, Mildred Lake Settling Basin, the oldest pond in the region, was found to be responsible for the majority of tailings ponds emissions of CH4 (> 70 %). The sum of measured emission rates of CH4 from the five major facilities, 19.2 ± 1.1 t CH4 h−1, was similar to a single mass-balance determination of CH4 from all major sources in the AOSR determined from a single flight downwind of the facilities, 23.7 ± 3.7 t CH4 h−1. The measured hourly CH4 emission rate from all facilities in the AOSR is 48 ± 8 % higher than that extracted for 2013 from the Canadian Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, a legislated facility-reported emissions inventory, converted to hourly units. The measured emissions correspond to an emissions rate of 0.17 ± 0.01 Tg CH4 yr−1 if the emissions are assumed as temporally constant, which is an uncertain assumption. The emission rates reported here are relevant for the summer season. In the future, effort should be devoted to measurements in different seasons to further our understanding of the seasonal parameters impacting fugitive emissions of CH4 and to allow for better estimates of annual emissions and year-to-year variability.

scholarly journals Using carbon-14 and carbon-13 measurements for source attribution of atmospheric methane in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Gonzalez Moguel ◽  
Felix Vogel ◽  
Sébastien Ars ◽  
Hinrich Schaefer ◽  
Jocelyn Turnbull ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Source Attribution ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Carbon 14 ◽  
Isotopic Characterization ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract. The rapidly expanding and energy intensive production from the Canadian oil sands, one of the largest oil reserves globally, accounts for almost 12 % of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions according to inventories. Developing approaches for evaluating reported methane (CH4) emission is crucial for developing effective mitigation policies, but only one study has characterized CH4 sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR). We tested the use of 14C and 13C carbon isotope measurements in ambient CH4 from the AOSR to estimate source contributions from key regional CH4 sources: (1) tailings ponds, (2) surface mines and processing facilities, and (3) wetlands. The isotopic signatures of ambient CH4 indicate that the CH4 enrichments measured at the site were mainly influenced by fossil CH4 emissions from surface mining and processing facilities (53 ± 18 %), followed by fossil CH4 emissions from tailings ponds (36 ± 18 %), and to a lesser extent by modern CH4 emissions from wetlands (10 < 1 %). Our results confirm the importance of tailings ponds in regional CH4 emissions and show that this method can successfully separate wetland CH4 emissions. In the future, the isotopic characterization of CH4 sources, and measurements from different seasons and wind directions are needed to provide a better source attribution in the AOSR.

scholarly journals Temperature, Precipitation, and Lightning Modification in the Vicinity of the Athabasca Oil Sands

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (32) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Brown ◽  
Gerhard W. Reuter ◽  
Thomas K. Flesch
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Waste Heat ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Open Pit Mines ◽  
Lightning Strikes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Abstract The Athabasca oil sands development in northeast Alberta, Canada, has disturbed more than 500 km2 of boreal forest through surface mining and tailings ponds development. In this paper, the authors compare the time series of temperatures and precipitation measured over oil sands and non–oil sands locations from 1994 to 2010. In addition, they analyzed the distribution of lightning strikes from 1999 to 2010. The oil sands development has not affected the number of lightning strikes or precipitation amounts but has affected the temperature regime. Over the past 17 years, the summer overnight minimum temperatures near the oil sands have increased by about 1.2°C compared to the regional average. The authors speculate that this is caused by a combination of the industrial addition of waste heat to the atmosphere above the oil sands and changing the surface type from boreal forest to open pit mines with tailings ponds.

scholarly journals Moose refugia from predation by wolves near mines in the Athabasca oil sands

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Neilson ◽  
Stan Boutin
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Habitat Model ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Areas near human disturbance may become prey refugia when predators avoid human activities more than their prey leading to decreased predation rates and/or increased prey population growth. Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR) is home to moose (Alces alces) and wolf (Canis lupus) populations and is characterized by extensive human disturbance including open pit mines, tailings ponds and industrial facilities. We examined the extent to which moose could be released from predation near Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands due to wolf avoidance of mining infrastructure. Using moose and wolves GPS telemetry, we compared the use of natural habitats and distance to mining features to the availability of these variables. We split mining features into high human-use facilities and low human-use pit mines and tailings ponds. We binned distance to mining features variables into distance buffers covering the range of moose home range diameters resulting in buffers of < 2.5 km, 2.5-5 km and 5-10 km. Moose models included an interaction between distance to mining features buffers and the distribution of wolves to assess whether moose exposure to wolves varies with proximity to human activity. We compared a habitat model including forest cover type, streams and rivers to a disturbance model using AIC. The model fitting habitat and distance to facilities was top-ranked for both species. Moose selection for areas near facilities was higher than wolves. Wolves avoided areas within 10 and 5 km of facilities but exhibited an equivocal response within 2.5 km. Moose exposure to wolves increased with distance to mines indicating that use of areas in proximity to human disturbance releases moose from predation by wolves. Human induced prey refugia could increase moose population growth and increase human-moose conflict. Additionally, moose dispersal out of the refuge areas could produce subsequent increases in the wolf population.

Biochar affects aspen seedling growth and reclaimed soil properties in the Athabasca oil sands region

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian T. Dietrich ◽  
M. Derek MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Seedling Growth ◽  
Populus Tremuloides ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
Nutrient Concentrations ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region

Restoring ecosystem function after oil sands surface mining involves reestablishing the biotic and abiotic ecosystem components that affect biogeochemical cycles and fluxes. In boreal forest ecosystems, pyrogenic carbon is a native soil component that affects a variety of biogeochemical parameters and biochar is its human-made analog. To evaluate the benefits of biochar amendment to reclamation cover soils, we compared characteristics and function of peat–mineral mix (PM) and forest floor–mineral mix (FFM) with and without biochar in an 18 wk greenhouse study. We assessed nutrient bioavailability (NO3, NH4, P, K, S, Mg, and Ca), foliar nutrient concentrations (N, P, K, S, Mg, Ca, Na, and Mo), soil respiration, rhizosphere polysaccharide concentration, soil organic matter stability, and Populus tremuloides Michx. seedling growth. Seedling growth increased significantly on PM cover soil with biochar. Biochar improved K nutritional status and potentially interacted with Na bioavailability in PM, affecting growth. Soil respiration significantly decreased in PM with biochar and increased in FFM. Soil organic matter stability was positively correlated with seedling growth and increased with biochar. Our findings suggest that biochar may have a significant positive effect on upland forest reclamation in the Athabasca oil sands region, especially on sites that are reclaimed with PM.

scholarly journals Moose refugia from predation by wolves near mines in the Athabasca oil sands

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Neilson ◽  
Stan Boutin
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Human Disturbance ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Habitat Model ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Human Use ◽  
Tailings Ponds

Areas near human disturbance may become prey refugia when predators avoid human activities more than their prey leading to decreased predation rates and/or increased prey population growth. Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands region (AOSR) is home to moose (Alces alces) and wolf (Canis lupus) populations and is characterized by extensive human disturbance including open pit mines, tailings ponds and industrial facilities. We examined the extent to which moose could be released from predation near Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands due to wolf avoidance of mining infrastructure. Using moose and wolves GPS telemetry, we compared the use of natural habitats and distance to mining features to the availability of these variables. We split mining features into high human-use facilities and low human-use pit mines and tailings ponds. We binned distance to mining features variables into distance buffers covering the range of moose home range diameters resulting in buffers of < 2.5 km, 2.5-5 km and 5-10 km. Moose models included an interaction between distance to mining features buffers and the distribution of wolves to assess whether moose exposure to wolves varies with proximity to human activity. We compared a habitat model including forest cover type, streams and rivers to a disturbance model using AIC. The model fitting habitat and distance to facilities was top-ranked for both species. Moose selection for areas near facilities was higher than wolves. Wolves avoided areas within 10 and 5 km of facilities but exhibited an equivocal response within 2.5 km. Moose exposure to wolves increased with distance to mines indicating that use of areas in proximity to human disturbance releases moose from predation by wolves. Human induced prey refugia could increase moose population growth and increase human-moose conflict. Additionally, moose dispersal out of the refuge areas could produce subsequent increases in the wolf population.

Fish tainting in the Alberta oil sands region: a review of current knowledge

2012 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle L. Tolton ◽  
Rozlyn F. Young ◽  
Wendy V. Wismer ◽  
Phillip M. Fedorak
Keyword(s):  
Oil Sands ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Open Pit ◽  
Open Pit Mining ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands ◽  
Oil Sands Mining ◽  
The Media ◽  
Northeastern Alberta ◽  
Tailings Ponds

The Athabasca oil sands in northeastern Alberta, Canada represent the second largest petroleum reserve in the world. The process of extracting bitumen from the oil sands uses huge volumes of water, drawn from sources in the Athabasca River basin, and numerous mining companies operate adjacent to the river. Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) from open pit mining is placed in large settling basins or tailings ponds that have the potential to leak. The goal is to eventually reclaim the tailings ponds to become functional ecosystems. Natural outcrops of oil sands in contact with surface waters also occur, and there are anecdotal reports in the media that fish caught near the Athabasca oil sands have an unusual flavor or odor. Several analytical and sensory studies have been undertaken to address this issue. Two major questions related to fish tainting arise: (1) Do the current oil sands mining, extraction and upgrading processes cause fish tainting in surrounding waters? (2) What is the tainting potential for fish that become established in reclaimed waters in the future? This review examines the types of compounds in OSPW that might contribute to tainting and the sensory science literature available related to fish tainting and the oil sands.

scholarly journals Emissions Preparation and Analysis for Multiscale Air Quality Modelling over the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta, Canada

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junhua Zhang ◽  
Michael D. Moran ◽  
Qiong Zheng ◽  
Paul A. Makar ◽  
Pegah Baratzadeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Oil Sands ◽  
Surface Mining ◽  
So2 Emissions ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
Athabasca Oil Sands Region ◽  
Resolution Model ◽  
High Resolution Model

Abstract. The oil sands of Alberta, Canada are classified as unconventional oil, but they are also the third-largest oil reserves in the world, behind only Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. We describe here a six-year effort to improve the emissions data used for air quality (AQ) modelling of the roughly 100 km x 100 km oil extraction and processing industrial complex operating in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) of north-eastern Alberta. The objective of this work was to review the available emissions data, provide information for comparison with observation-based emissions estimates, and generate model-ready emissions files for the Global Environmental Multiscale–Modelling Air-quality and CHemistry (GEM-MACH) AQ modelling system for application to the AOSR. GEM-MACH was used to produce nested AQ forecasts during an AQ field study carried out in the AOSR in summer 2013 as well as ongoing experimental forecasts since then and retrospective model simulations and analyses for the field-study period. This paper discusses the generation of GEM-MACH emissions input files, in particular for a high-resolution model domain with 2.5-km grid spacing covering much of western Canada and centred over the AOSR. Prior to the field study, ten pre-2013 national, provincial, or sub-provincial emissions inventories for up to seven criteria-air-contaminant species (NOx, VOC, SO2, NH3, CO, PM2.5, and PM10) that covered the AOSR study area and that had been compiled for various purposes were reviewed, and then a detailed hybrid emissions inventory was created by combining the best available emissions data from some of these ten inventories. After the field study, additional sources of emissions-related data became available, including 2013 hourly SO2 and NOx emissions and stack characteristics for large point sources measured by Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems, 2013-specific national inventories, daily reports of SO2 emissions from one AOSR facility for a one-week period during the field campaign when that facility experienced upset conditions, aircraft measurements of VOC and PM2.5 concentrations from the 2013 field campaign and derived estimates of their emissions, and measurements of chemical composition of dust collected from various AOSR sites. These new data were used to generate updated emissions input files for various post-campaign GEM-MACH sensitivity studies. Their inclusion resulted in some significant emissions revisions, including a reduction in total VOC and SO2 emissions from surface mining facilities of about 40 % and 20 %, respectively, and a ten-fold increase in PM2.5 emissions based on aircraft observations. In addition, standard emissions processing approaches could not provide an accurate representation of emissions from such large, unconventional emissions sources as AOSR surface mines. In order to generate more accurate high-resolution, model-ready emissions files, AOSR-specific improvements were made to the emissions processing methodology. To account for the urban-scale spatial extent of the AOSR mining facilities and the high-resolution 2.5-km model grid, novel facility-specific gridded spatial surrogate fields were generated using spatial information from GIS (geographic information system) shapefiles and satellite images to allocate emissions spatially within each mining facility. Facility- and process-specific temporal profiles and VOC speciation profiles were also developed. The pre-2013 vegetation and land-use data bases normally used to estimate biogenic emissions and meteorological surface properties were modified to account for the rapid change of land use in the study area due to marked, year-by-year changes in surface mining activities, including the 2013 opening of a new mine. Lastly, mercury emissions data were also processed to support AOSR mercury modelling activities. The combination of emissions inventory updates and methodological improvements to emissions processing has resulted in a more representative and more accurate set of emissions input files to support AQ modelling to predict the ecosystem impacts of AOSR air pollutant emissions. Seven other papers in this special issue used some of these new sets of emissions input files.

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