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New study suggests reported PAH emissions in oil sands region greatly underestimated

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Results from a new modeling assessment of contamination in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region (AOSR) suggest that officially reported emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in that region have been greatly underestimated. Accounting for evaporative emissions (e.g., Average emissions densities from Shen et al.

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Joint Canada/Alberta Implementation Plan for Oil Sands Monitoring begins summer air monitoring project

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A comprehensive environmental field study to gather information on air contaminants in the Wood Buffalo region in northeast Alberta, Canada (home to major oil sands projects) will occur from 12 August to mid-September 2013. Evaluate high-resolution air quality models for use in the oil sands region. Earlier post.).

Oil-Sands 199
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Fluid thermal processing of Mongolian oil sands

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A study by a team from the State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum found that fluid thermal processing of. il sands is a feasible process for the production of an upgraded bitumen-derived liquid from Inner Mongolian oil sand. Oil sands exploration in Xing’an region.

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Microbes for Quick Clean Up of Toxic Byproducts from Heavy Crude and Oil Sands

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Microbiologists from the University of Essex, UK are exploring the use of microbes to break down and remove toxic compounds from heavy crude and oil sands. These acidic compounds persist in the environment, taking up to 10 years to break down. This water is contained in large settling or tailing ponds. Richard Johnson.

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Devil in the Details: World Leaders Scramble To Salvage and Shape Copenhagens UNFCCC Climate Summit

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The last official UNFCCC meeting prior to the 15 th Congress ended 6 November in Barcelona, and environment ministers have been shuttling in and out of Copenhagen since then to conduct ad hoc negotiations prior to the summit. ” —British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, summing up the historical significance of COP 15. ºF) increase.

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Argonne releases GREET 2014 lifecycle analysis software; unified graphical toolbox and database

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The new platform combines all the previous Excel spreadsheets in a single environment with a single database that is now easier to maintain and manage. Added black carbon and organic carbon emissions as an additional criteria air pollutants (CAP) and GHG species. Argonne introduction to GREET and LCA.

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New study concludes oil sands development has significantly increased PAH and DBT loadings in regional lakes; combined with effects of climate change, a “new ecological state” for the lakes

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Standardized values (Z scores) of (A) visible reflectance spectroscopy (VRS) chlorophyll a inferences from the five lakes proximate to major oil sands operations as indicators of lake primary production; (B) total PAH concentrations and (C) total DBT concentrations from all six study sites. Source: Kurek et al. Click to enlarge.

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