CIM Magazine highlights H2nanO Inc.’s ERA-funded project work developing innovative water treatment technologies to address the challenge of oil sands tailings.
CIM Magazine’s “The Tailings Takedown” highlights H2nanO Inc. as one of the Canadian technology companies developing innovative solutions to address the significant environmental challenges associated with oil sands tailings. The article explores Alberta’s efforts to reduce the volume and environmental impact of tailings ponds and features H2nanO’s work as part of Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Tailings Technology Challenge.
H2nanO is featured for its ERA-supported project focused on advancing water treatment technologies that can remove organic contaminants and treat saline mine water, with the potential to support water recovery and reuse. The project builds on H2nanO’s SolarPass technology and its broader work developing energy-efficient industrial water-treatment approaches.
The first technology, Active Photocatalysis (A-PC), builds on H2nanO’s SolarPass platform. While SolarPass uses sunlight to break down dissolved organic contaminants, A-PC uses high-efficiency UV-LED reactors to make the process more controllable and suitable for year-round operation. The second technology is Stratus, a low-energy thermal desalination process designed to treat saline mine water using low-grade or otherwise wasted heat, with a focus on efficient water recovery and reduced energy and carbon intensity.
The article highlights H2nanO’s ongoing efforts to move these technologies from development toward larger-scale demonstration in real-world oil sands applications. H2nanO’s participation in the project demonstrates its role in developing practical, lower-energy water treatment solutions that could improve tailings management, reduce freshwater demand, and support more sustainable water use across the mining sector.