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Water Innovation Opportunities

If you're an academic, researcher, innovator, inventor, entrepreneur, large company, or really anyone with an idea or potential innovation—we want to hear from you.

What is an innovation opportunity?

COSIA's Innovation Opportunities provide focused, actionable descriptions of the current state of opportunities related to environmental processes and impacts of the oil sands industry. Each represents a possibility that, if realized, would contribute towards the achievement of COSIA's environmental aspirations.

The Innovation Opportunities include research and technology opportunities, from incremental - because the small things add up - through to the game-changers with the potential to propel industry forward.

Water

Water

New or Non-Conventional Boilers
Develop new steam generation technologies which generate more steam to inject and/or increase steam generator operating uptime while improving water recycle, reducing disposal and reducing energy use/GHG intensity.
OTSG Related Technologies & Process Configurations
Improve the design/operation of existing Once Through Steam Generators (OTSGs) to generate more injection steam and/or increase steam generator operating uptime, while improving water recycle, reducing disposal and reducing energy use/GHG intensity.
Process Monitoring
Improve in situ process monitoring through the collaborative improvement/development online analyzers, and analytical techniques/best practices, and in situ laboratory analytical methods, with the goal of improving the stability, utilization of in situ produced water treatment facilities.
New Water Treatment Technologies
Develop new water treatment technologies, ready for commercial deployment, which replant elements of or the entire Insitu produced water treatment process with the goal of improving environmental performance, reduce costs and improve reliability.
Passive Treatment Technologies
New or improved low-energy technologies that can effectively treat OSPW or highly saline depressurization water for return to the Athabasca River. The technology should be economical and require minimal energy and maintenance for long term operation. Passive or semi-passive treatment systems that detoxify OSPW have several advantages over active treatment systems like ozonation including lower net environment effect, lower costs and the ability to deploy during the active mining and reclamation phases of mine life.
Reliable Solvent and Non-Solvent Additives Measurement
COSIA’s members have identified ‘Reliable Solvent and Non-Solvent Additives Measurement’ innovation priority, which if realized, would help accelerate adoption of solvent technologies and dramatically reduce the amount of water needed and emissions per barrel of oil produced.