New oilsands extraction method to eliminate toxic byproducts

摘要

Environmentalists were up in arms in April when hundreds of ducks were found dead in a toxic tailings pond belonging to oilsands giant Syncrude Canada. These ponds are an unfortunate byproduct of today's thriving oilsands industry, and in Syncrude's case, a result of the Clark hot water process, where they crush bitumen-containing oil, mix it with heated water and use that to separate the bitumen from the ore. The leftover water is dumped in the ponds, a habit a duo of engineering professors in Alberta and Ontario is looking to break with a waterless high-pressure extraction method using carbon dioxide to flush bitumen from oilsands.