By Nirmala Menon
Canada is hoping to give the oil sands an image makeover–with the help of pond scum, plankton and seaweed.
Ottawa said Friday that the National Research Council of Canada, a government agency that conducts scientific research and development, will study using algae to recycle carbon-dioxide emissions from the oil sands into biofuels.
The NRC is joining forces with two companies, Alberta-based Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Ontario-based private firm Pond Biofuels, to build a 19 million Canadian dollar ($18.9 million) facility in Alberta for the three-year pilot project.
The so-called “algal biorefinery” will be at Canadian Natural’s Primrose South oil-sands site, near Bonnyville, Alberta. It will recycle industrial emissions from the site by using carbon dioxide to grow algal biomass, which will be further processed into products such as biofuels, livestock feed and fertilizer.
The project’s goal is to test the viability and feasibility of the technology on a large scale. Ottawa hopes it can be used as a model for recycling greenhouse-gas emissions from the oil sands and from other industries.
Gary Goodyear, Canada’s junior minister of science and technology, said the project has “tremendous potential” to benefit the economy and the environment and help Canada manage greenhouse-gas emissions.
“What the result of this project could mean for the future of the oil sands and Canadian businesses makes this a significant day for Canada,” Mr. Goodyear said in a statement.
The move comes as Canada battles the perception that crude from the oil sands is dirty. Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore has dubbed the oil-sands as an “open sewer” which threatens to add “to the reckless spewing of pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere.” And the European Commission is considering singling out crude from the oil sands as being dirtier than other fuel types in a revision to its Fuel Quality Directive, a law designed to lower carbon emissions from transportation fuels.