Geotechnical News • September 2012
23
WASTE GEOTECHNICS
investigate the freezing and thaw-
ing of mature fine tailings at several
sites in the Athabasca region,” recalls
Sego. “This was one technology that
industry never picked up on due to the
emergence of consolidated tailings.”
As time went on, Sego continued
conducting innovative and practical
research that had an impact on the
development of Alberta’s oil sands:
he tried artificial ground freezing to
recover undisturbed samples using
liquid nitrogen, and then in the early
2000s, he tested various dewatering
approaches for mine wastes, includ-
ing cross flow filtration. According to
Morgenstern, Distinguished Univer-
sity Professor Emeritus at the Univer-
sity of Alberta, “Dave’s early research
underpins many aspects of current
tailings management at an industrial
scale. His related work also resulted
in major advances in spray freezing
to improve contaminated water and
agricultural waste. [With regards to
permafrost research,] his studies into
saline permafrost and the development
of ground freezing for undisturbed
samples of sand substantially contrib-
uted to the ground-breaking CANLEX
(Canadian Liquefaction Experiment)
Project.”
Sego’s research acumen and foresight
also resulted in the technological
transfer of several of his innovative
developments. For example, under
Sego’s leadership, a cross-disciplinary
collaborative team at the University of
Alberta developed a novel hand-held
naphthenic acids fluorescence sen-
sor in 2009, offering a cost effec-
tive, bench scale, non-invasive and
continuous water quality monitoring
tool that can detect, characterize and
track changes of naphthenic acids in
process-affected waters. Currently,
Sego is developing in-line dewatering
techniques which can rapidly dewater
mine tailings. These techniques will
increase the amount of recycled water
available for use in resource extrac-
tion operations, and specifically in
oil sands operations, can prevent the
formation of MFT.
Committed to forging strong ties
between academia, industry, consul-
tants and regulators, Sego developed
internationally acclaimed confer-
ences, including the First International
Congress on Environmental Geotech-
nics and the International Oil Sands
Tailings Conference (both of which
continue today), and was instrumen-
tal in bringing the Tailings and Mine
Waste conference to Canada for the
first time in 2009.
However, Sego’s greatest contribu-
tions to the oil sands industry and
permafrost engineering was his role in
the establishment of three state-of-the-
art research facilities: the $2.2-million
Oil Sands Tailings Research Facil-
ity (OSTRF) in Devon and the CFI/
I2P2-funded Geotechnical & Geoenvi-
ronmental Engineering Cold Regions
Research Facility and the Geochem-
istry Laboratory at the University
of Alberta. Through these facilities,
he expanded engineering research
and development in the challenging
areas of both the Arctic and oil sands
engineering. Sego also oversaw and
conducted studies into the geotechni-
cal aspects of mining and processing
oil sands tailings, contributing to
the enhanced safety, environmental
integrity and economy of developing
the resource.
These three research facilities have
been used to train scores of graduate
students who are working to better
manage oil sands and mine tailings.
Sego’s former students are now either
working for educational institutions,
operating companies, regulatory agen-
cies and consulting firms providing
professional services across North
America and around the world or
have continued in PhD-level studies
in geotechnical engineering. It was
these very students who came together
to honour Sego on April 26-27, 2012,
when the David C. Sego Sympo-
sium was held in Edmonton, Alberta.
Commemorating Sego’s service as
an educator, mentor and researcher,
the Symposium themes included
cold regions engineering, mine waste
management and geotechnical and
geoenvironmental engineering – areas
in which Sego has made significant
contributions in the past three decades.
Although officially retired from teach-
ing, Sego actively mentors students,
conducts collaborative research and
develops pioneering technologies
in these three fields. Through his
Dr. Dave Sego surrounded by his graduate students at his retirement
celebration.
