Industry Insights
Collaborative Governance in Conflict Areas : The Sustainability Challenge of Hydropower Industry in Colombia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jorge Andres Polanco
The hydropower industry in Colombia is developing in contexts of violence because of armed conflict. This paper contributes to the filling of a knowledge gap between the energy business practices and the local implications of the armed conflict and the peace talks in Colombia. The governance of business sustainability is analyzed within violence, drawing upon a cross-case study from the hydropower industry to describe emergent issues, dominant players, and tools that may provide solutions. The cross-case study method is based on the hermeneutical analysis of thirty-eight in-depth interviews carried out with members of community, energy sector, and state from two territories of the Colombian Andes. The results exhibit conventional problems such as climate change, dwindling biodiversity, and the deteriorating condition of natural resources, in addition to the characteristic difficulties of armed conflicts, such as illegality, distrustfulness, and lack of opportunity for local populations. In view of both the weakness of the state and the scarcity of social capital, energy companies emerge as a central player in association with nongovernmental organizations. The tools used are more geared toward planning than they are toward joint action and evaluation. It was concluded that the management of hydropower stations in the contexts of violence requires companies to orient their actions toward results and evaluate the impact of its management. Such management must be based on transformational relationships aimed at reducing the existing asymmetry between players and distributing the costs and benefits of the hydropower station more equitably.
Innovations in Management of Oil Sand Tailings
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Julie Qiulin Shang
The management of fine oil sands tailings is a major challenge for the oil industry in the north Alberta, Canada. The tailings have high water content and low permeability attributable to their significant clay content. Without treatment, consolidation and solidification of the tailings in tailings ponds will take decades. For the oil sand industry, effective and efficient technologies for effective and efficient dewatering of fine oil sand tailings are in urgent demand. In this paper, recent research and development on innovative technologies for dewatering and solidification of find oil sand tailings are introduced, including electrokinetic (EK) treatment, chemical treatment, and surcharge, vacuum, and EK combined treatment. EK dewatering treatment has shown to be very effective, mainly because of the favourable mineralogy and chemistry of the oil sand tailings. Extensive studies were conducted on the material characterization, system configuration, energy consumption and numerical simulation. The chemical treatment involves applications of chemicals to oil sand tailings to achieve specific management objectives. Quicklime, Portland cement, and various liquid silicates have been investigated in recent studies. The effectiveness of these stabilizers at different dosages and curing durations is assessed in terms of the undrained shear strength, solid content, plasticity, pore fluid chemistry, and microstructure. The study on combined surcharge, vacuum, and EK treatment is investigated to accelerate consolidation and dewatering of fine oil sand tailings. Preliminary results under conditions such as EK, vacuum, surcharge, and their combinations, are assessed and discussed.
Application of Bioremediation in Industrial Heritage Renewal
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jun Jiao, Junyi Jia
The research and protection of industrial heritage started relatively late in China. Since the third national survey of cultural relics was launched in 2007, industrial heritage has received special attention in China. Despite the many great achievements of industrial heritage research on various regions across country through the following ten years, the protection of industrial heritage hasn’t made significant progress in China yet. Due to the particularity of China's modern and contemporary industrial development process, unique land policies and massive population density, only less than 30% of the total industrial heritages were protected. The overall situation of industrial heritage in China is still left in blank to the world. Soil and groundwater pollutants in industrial brownfields have the characteristics of long-term, concealment, irreversibility, and incomplete decomposition. Bioremediation of organic pollutants has attracted more and more attention in recent years as a new technology which replaces traditional physical and chemical treatment methods. Bacterial cells are thought to play an important role in eliminating existing persistent organic pollutants. In our research of industrial heritage that coordinate the special situation of urban development in China, we try to establish an active biorenewal intervention method, including a new biodegradable material and real-time biosensing system which combining conservation and repurposing to achieve sustainable development. We hope through interdisciplinary collaboration, we can make different attempts for the protection of industrial heritage.
Implementation of a Thermodynamic Heat Pump Prototype in the Bernardo O’Higgins Base in Antarctica
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Francois Simon
The Bernardo O’Higgins military base, located in Antarctica, has no access to the Chilean electricity grid and relies exclusively on diesel for power generation. The military base’s daily consumption of more than 647 liters of diesel entails, firstly, an elevated emission rate of harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter, and secondly, high energy running costs due to the purchase, transportation, and storage of the diesel fuel. Since most of the military base’s energy demand is for space heating and the production of domestic hot water, implementing heat pump systems could be an effective solution to reduce environmental impacts and energy running costs. The research selected the most suitable heat pump configuration for the production of domestic hot water for the military base´s needs and to analyze the environmental impacts of the refrigerants used in this technology. Room conditions where the heat pump could possibly be installed were measured, and a heat pump simulation was performed to determine the best location and the most optimum refrigerant to be used. Due to the low ambient temperatures at the base, results indicates that the most effective configuration is to place the heat pump evaporator in the food cellar where the indoor temperature is relatively high and constant. A heat pump prototype was installed and subsequently monitored.
