Technical Blog
Practical insights on water treatment technology, Alberta regulatory developments, and emerging applications from the GWTS technical team.
AER Directive 085 in 2026: Binding Milestones and the Operator Compliance Checklist
AER Directive 085’s fluid tailings milestones are now binding, and the gap between operators with executable dewatering plans and those still drafting them is visible in regulatory filings. We recap the 2026 obligation landscape and the compliance checklist operators should be able to answer without qualifiers.
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SAGD Produced Water: Silica Management and the Economics of OTSG Feedwater
Silica, more than any other contaminant, determines how far SAGD produced water can be recycled through once-through steam generators. We compare hot lime softening and MF-RO treatment paths, why silica caps blowdown recycle, and where the economics land.
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Ultrafiltration vs. Microfiltration: Selecting RO Pretreatment for Oil Sands Pond Water
Every membrane train lives or dies on pretreatment. We break down the UF vs MF decision for oil sands pond water: pore-size and SDI differences, fouling behaviour, and when ultrafiltration pays for high-pressure RO and SWRO applications.
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Zero Liquid Discharge Economics: When Does the ZLD CAPEX Math Close?
ZLD is the most capital-intensive endpoint in industrial water treatment — and the least forgiving of optimistic assumptions. We walk through the membrane-thermal cost hierarchy, hybrid train design, and the conditions under which ZLD capital actually closes.
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From Purchase Order to Permeate: Deploying Mobile MF-RO in Eight Weeks
From signed purchase order to validated permeate in eight weeks: the week-by-week mobile MF-RO deployment timeline, what the client must provide, and how mobile capacity feeds the permanent plant decision.
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Tailings Dewatering in the Oil Sands: Centrifugation vs. Filtration Approaches
Mature Fine Tailings (MFT) treatment is one of the most technically and commercially significant challenges in Alberta oil sands operations. We break down the two dominant active dewatering pathways — centrifugation and pressure filtration — and their applicability across different MFT compositions and project scales.
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Lithium Extraction Water Treatment: How RO Enables the DLE Supply Chain
Direct Lithium Extraction is moving from laboratory to commercial scale across Western Canada. Advanced RO plays a critical but underappreciated enabling role in DLE process trains. This post covers the water chemistry challenges, RO integration points, and lessons from GWTS's own DLE demonstration project in Calgary (2022–2024).
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AER Directive 085: What Oil Sands Operators Need to Know About Tailings Obligations
Alberta Energy Regulator Directive 085 replaced Directive 074 as the primary regulatory framework for oil sands tailings management. The new directive creates binding performance targets and timelines for fluid tailings volume reduction. We outline what this means for operators — and how active water treatment and dewatering technologies create compliance pathways.
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SWRO at 1,200 psi: Treating High-Salinity Oil Sands Pond Water
As oil sands saline pond TDS concentrations climb above 35,000 mg/L, conventional RO systems can no longer achieve meaningful water recovery. Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) operated at 1,000–1,200 psi offers a membrane-based alternative to thermal evaporation. We review the process design requirements, pretreatment critical path, and lessons from GWTS's Northern Alberta SWRO pilot (Sept–Dec 2025).
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Pilot Testing Methodology: How to Design a Membrane Pilot That De-Risks Capital
A well-designed membrane pilot program delivers the data needed to specify a full-scale system with confidence. A poorly designed one produces ambiguous results and delays capital decisions. This post covers the key design decisions — scale, duration, sampling protocols, performance metrics, and how to translate pilot data into a bankable basis of design.
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Water Treatment and Indigenous Reconciliation in Northern Alberta: Moving Beyond Compliance
Industrial water treatment projects in Northern Alberta operate on or near the traditional territories of multiple First Nations. Moving from compliance-focused consultation to genuine partnership requires changes to how projects are structured, staffed, and governed from the earliest planning stages. We share GWTS's approach and what meaningful Indigenous participation looks like in practice.
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Electrocoagulation for Produced Water: When Chemical-Free Treatment Makes Sense
How electrocoagulation removes metals, TSS, and oil from produced water without chemical coagulant dosing, and where it fits in an Alberta oil sands treatment train.
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Mobile RO Rental vs. Capital Purchase: A Decision Framework for Temporary Water Treatment Needs
When does renting a mobile RO unit make more sense than purchasing a permanent system? A practical framework covering deployment timeline, duration, and total cost of ownership.
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Scaling Indices Explained: LSI, RSI, and S&DSI for RO Pretreatment Design
A practical guide to the Langelier Saturation Index, Ryznar Stability Index, and Stiff & Davis Stability Index used to predict and prevent scale formation in reverse osmosis systems.
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