A prevalent pollutant in prairie groundwater is known to cause infertility in humans and animals, and a research team out of the University of Guelph is attempting to remove it from our ecosystems.

Erica Pensini, Associate Professor at the university’s School of Engineering, says sulfolane is a chemical used to remove acidic components from oil and gas. She says it’s similar to ethanol in the way it mixes with water completely when salt isn’t present. There are large plumes of this chemical present across Canada, but specifically in Alberta. “If you think about the number of sites where sour gas is being sweetened in Alberta, you can imagine that the impacts can be quite significant.” Pensini says the dangers of the chemical weren’t always well documented. “In the past, the toxicity of this contaminant was not known, so it was not handled properly. At the moment, it is handled properly, but spills can still occur,” she notes.

Pensini says there are several known methods of mitigating the spread of sulfolane, including pumping out the groundwater, treating it at the surface and reinjecting it. However, the chemical can spread quite quickly, and this method isn’t always effective. “So what we are trying to do now is understand the mixing behavior of sulfolane in groundwater and its migration in different sites which are impacted by multiple pollutants.”

Pensini and her team utilized the Canadian Light Source for the project. “The Canadian Light Source has helped us understand the properties of the fluids in which the sulfolane is present, (and has helped us with) comparing situations where the ion concentration is very low to situations where the groundwater contains more ions.”

Through her research, she has discovered that sulfolane plumes travel faster when there is a lower salt concentration in the water. With this in mind, the research team hopes to develop and improve remediation efforts to remove the contaminant from groundwater across the prairies.