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In vitro bioassays to assess impacts of oil sands process-affected water in receiving aquatic environments.

This work is done in partnership with Alberta Environment and Parks (Dr. Keegan Hicks) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Dr. Beate Escher). This project is funded by the Future Energy Systems (Early Career Researchers)

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Summary

The efficacy of treatment technologies to remove contaminants of concern from oil sands processed water (OSPW) will need to be assessed to demonstrate safe return into the environment. Bioassays are a potential screening tool that could be used to evaluate treatment efficacy. In partnership with Alberta Environment and Parks (Dr. Keegan Hicks) and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Dr. Beate Escher), we will apply a battery of high-throughput bioassays to evaluate current OSPW treatments and the potential mixture effects of the effluents in important cellular pathways. This work will support the future development of predictive models that link exposure to effects and will assist in establishing success indicators and thresholds for the safe release of treated OSPW. This project is funded by the Future Energy Systems for Early Career Researchers.

Related Publications

Barrow, K., Escher, B.I., Hicks, K.A., König, M., Schlichting, R. and Arlos, M.J., 2023. Water quality monitoring with in vitro bioassays to compare untreated oil sands process-affected water with unimpacted rivers. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, 9(8), pp.2008-2020. https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EW00988A

Funding and Partners

Future Energy Systems - Early Career Researchers
Faculty of Engineering Start-up
NSERC Discovery Grant (NSERC RGPIN-2021-02412)
CITEPro (Chemicals in the Environment Profiler) funded by the Helmholtz Association for bioassay measurements and financial support of the work at UFZ from the Helmholtz POF IV Topic 9 “Healthy Planet-towards a non-toxic environment”

 

Kia Barrow (MSc, graduated)
Kyra Jubinville (Summer Student)


 

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