The Conference

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  The 2012 CONRAD Water Conference is dedicated to presenting technical, operational, and policy information on questions concerning oil sand process water, its use, and impacts of its use on the processing of oil sands, for both in-situ and open-pit mining recovery of bitumen and its subsequent upgrading or conversion to synthetic crude oil.

  In 2012, the biennial 2-day conference of leading-edge presentations will be expanded to include, on the preceding day, two consecutive educational workshops on mining and in-situ oil sands technical water challenges, to help bring new and recent professionals and students working in this area up to speed on current issues and technologies.

  CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

  The 2012 CONRAD Water Conference will focus on the following areas:

  1. Water Strategies

  • Drivers in water management and technology development plans
    • In-Situ challenges (e.g. water sourcing to deep well disposal)
    • Mining Challenges (e.g. water quality to aquatic reclamation)
  • Regional water strategies and plans (regulatory, industry, and NGO perspectives)
  • Provincial and Federal Government water plans and policies

   

  2. Applied Research

  • Water characterization and analytical techniques
  • New water and wastewater treatment technologies and processes
  • New chemical treatment and materials of construction (e.g. scaling, corrosion, erosion)
  • Optimization and new waste disposal treatment and methods

   

  3. Technology development and application

  • Case studies: Bench and field pilot trials
  • Commercialization of technologies and lessons learned
  • Innovative application of technology

   

  4. Operational Excellence

  • Development of management tools (e.g. water models)
  • Training and staff development
  • Unit process optimization (e.g. recycling efficiencies, reduction in water usage)