Chad Felch, 35, of Rothschild, Wisconsin (U.S.), provided a major contribution to making production of oil from tar sand in Canada more environmentally compatible. His process uses the so called Zimpro wet air oxidation (WAO) process to destroy 90 percent of the soot, minimizing the amount of waste soot requiring disposal. In addition, the heavy metals in the soot may be able to be recovered and sold as a product.