Our Mission
The Alberta Government announcement regarding their commitment to establishing water release guidelines for oil Sands mining water has Oil sands operators now transitioning from 60 years of tailings "containment" to "regulated tailings water release". This depends entirely on operators solving the Naphthenic Acid monitoring and remediation challenge. The current gold standard of monitoring HRMS can't scale to operational needs leaving them with sparse quarterly reports making treatment optimization impossible.
Luminous BioSolutions provides NA operational intelligence: 24-hour biosensor screening + AI-native Confluent platform = data-driven treatment optimization and multi-stakeholder transparency.
We're enabling a pathway from "containment to release" through actionable monitoring. This is about enablement (closure is possible), not fear (preventing catastrophe).
What We Do
We're a monitoring and data intelligence company focused on one problem:
- Biosensor: Peer-reviewed (ACS Synthetic Biology, 2024), field-tested at Kearl wetland pilot (2024/25)
- Confluent AI: Multi-stakeholder dashboards, natural language querying, predictive analytics, immutable data set, expandable to future monitoring / operational data
What we acknowledge:
- HRMS remains the compliance gold standard, we complement it, we don't replace it
- We solve NA monitoring specifically (so far); other contaminants need separate solutions
- Future bioaugmentation R&D underway, not a current offering
The Team
Shawn Lewenza, Chief Science Officer
10+ years NA research. Published author. Kearl wetland field validation lead
I have developed research programs in microbiology, antibiotic discovery and in bacterial biosensors for diverse applications. We use synthetic biology to engineer bacterial biosensors that detect naphthenic acids, the primary chemicals of concern in oil sands tailings ponds. These NA biosensors are being commercialized as novel tools for environmental monitoring of NA in water, and they also facilitate identifying microbes that degrade naphthenic acids. Our goal is to identify minimal bacterial communities that can efficiently degrade naphthenic acids in water treatment strategies.
View my publications here on Google Scholar.
View my Athabasca University Pure research profile here.
Greg Saunders, Chief Technology Officer
AI-native platform architecture. Graph database implementation. Environmental data expertise.
Since connecting with Calgary's tech community in the late 1990s, I've rarely felt as energized as I do about the opportunity to join Luminous. After witnessing countless technologies that failed to create meaningful change, Luminous stands as a powerful counterexample. Innovations coming out of Luminous have genuine potential to transform how heavy industry addresses our most urgent environmental challenges. This isn't just another tech venture, it's a mission I'm deeply passionate about supporting.
Jeff Violo Chief Operating Officer
Commercial strategy. Industry engagement. Stakeholder relationship management.
With over 30 years of experience, I thrive on transforming complex challenges into actionable solutions. My journey began as a professional athlete and coach, where I honed the discipline and strategic thinking that I now bring to every project. I love to work alongside talented people and overcome constraints by leveraging a blend of business insight and technical expertise, to unlock new opportunities. I’m passionate about building lasting relationships with people who value innovation and integrity, and I’m always excited to tackle the next big challenge.
Our Commitment to Respectful Engagement
Oil sands operations have impacted Indigenous lands and waters for decades. We've built real-time monitoring tools to provide transparent data access, but we know technology is only part of building trust. We're committed to engaging meaningfully with affected communities to ensure transparency tools serve their actual information needs.