Isotopic Evidence for Oil Sands Petroleum Coke in the Peace–Athabasca Delta
| Autor: | Josué J. Jautzy, Martine M. Savard, Anna Smirnoff, Jason M. E. Ahad, Charles Gobeil, Benjamin D. Barst |
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| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Delta
Alberta chemistry.chemical_compound Environmental Chemistry Oil and Gas Fields Coal Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Isotope analysis Carbon Isotopes business.industry Environmental engineering General Chemistry Coke Phenanthrenes Phenanthrene Hydrocarbons Lakes Petroleum chemistry Environmental chemistry Upgrader Oil sands business Water Pollutants Chemical Geology Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | Environmental Science & Technology. 49:12062-12070 |
| ISSN: | 1520-5851 0013-936X |
| Popis: | The continued growth of mining and upgrading activities in Canada's Athabasca oil sands (AOS) region has led to concerns about emissions of contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Whereas a recent increase in PAH emissions has been demonstrated within around 50 km of the main center of surface mining and upgrading operations, the exact nature of the predominant source(s) and the geographical extent of the deposition are still under debate. Here, we report a century-long source apportionment of PAHs using dual (δ(2)H, δ(13)C) compound-specific isotope analysis on phenanthrene deposited in a lake from the Athabasca sector of the Peace-Athabasca Delta situated ∼150 km downstream (north) of the main center of mining operations. The isotopic signatures in the core were compared to those of the main potential sources in this region (i.e., unprocessed AOS bitumen, upgrader residual coke, forest fires, coal, gasoline and diesel soot). A significant concurrent increase (∼55.0‰) in δ(2)H and decrease (∼1.5‰) in δ(13)C of phenanthrene over the last three decades pointed to an increasingly greater component of petcoke-derived PAHs. This study is the first to quantify long-range (i.e., >100 km) transport of a previously under-considered anthropogenic PAH source in the AOS region. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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