Shawn Lewenza, a professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Athabasca University, has developed a patent-pending technology that could revolutionize the way oil sands companies monitor contaminants in tailings ponds. The technology could ultimately improve the process of cleaning up this wastewater.

Of the 1.5 billion cubic metres of oil sands tailings held in industry facilities near the Athabasca River, about 400 million cubic metres constitute wastewater. This water is unsafe to release back into the environment because of high levels of a group of compounds known as naphthenic acids, which are toxic and can linger in the environment for years.

The Government of Alberta is developing guidelines on how to safely treat and ultimately release the water back into the environment. The ability to identify the concentrations of naphthenic acid in the water is crucial—but the process is expensive and time-consuming.

That’s where Lewenza’s research comes in.

“We have a fast, inexpensive and relatively simple monitoring method,” he says. “It’s about supporting the remediation process and confirming that the treatment systems work. That provides more confidence about releasing the water.”

Lewenza expects a pending patent to be finalized within the next year or two. In anticipation, he has started a company, Luminous BioSolutions, to market the innovative technology.

Not only does this technology have the potential to support monitoring during remediation, but it can also improve the daily operations of oil sands mining.

Jeff Violo, Chief Operating Officer at Luminous BioSolutions, explains that while Alberta’s oil sands have generated a significant amount of wealth and prosperity for the province and the whole country, they do come with significant challenges.

A major hurdle to treating and releasing oil sands wastewater is the ability to test the levels of naphthenic acids quickly and inexpensively. The current gold-standard process is to use mass spectrometry, which can cost more than $500 for a single sample and take several weeks to return a result.

But Lewenza’s microbiology research has led him to a solution for this problem: developing microbes that can show the concentrations of naphthenic acids in a water sample quickly and reliably.

“We use microbes that were originally isolated from water in tailings ponds. We know they’re living with naphthenic acids, so they’re able to manage these conditions and have ultimately shown they can degrade these chemicals,” he says. “From a microbiologist’s perspective, the solution to this environmental problem is contained within the contaminated water itself.”

Lewenza and his team were able to identify the specific genes in these microbes that are activated when naphthenic acids are present. Using a technique called synthetic biology, they then engineered the microbes so that when those genes are switched on—signalling the presence of the contaminants—the microbes emit a measurable glow.

This past year, Lewenza compared results from high-resolution mass spectrometry with results from his biosensor technology in experimental wetlands treatment systems. The data showed that the results from biosensor technology correlate closely to those from mass spectrometry.

“I think it will be eye-opening how simple this method is, how fast the turnaround is, and how specific and quantitative the method is,” he says. “This approach will give the industry an understanding of the high-volume monitoring that is now possible.”

Luminous BioSolutions uses an AI database that can quickly analyze and report on the data gleaned from the luminescent microbes.

Violo says that in addition to supporting environmental remediation efforts, this new technology offers commercial value to potential clients and highlights the broader impact of Athabasca University research.

“It’s really, really exciting to see this great academic research from Athabasca University get commercialized,” he says.

NSERC supported Lewenza’s research through its Discovery Grants program.

This article was adapted and published with permission from Athabasca University.