scholarly journals Synergism Red Mud-Acid Mine Drainage as a Sustainable Solution for Neutralizing and Immobilizing Hazardous Elements

Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 620
Author(s):  
Hugo Lucas ◽  
Srecko Stopic ◽  
Buhle Xakalashe ◽  
Sehliselo Ndlovu ◽  
Bernd Friedrich
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Red Mud ◽  
Room Temperature ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Environmental Standards ◽  
Hazardous Elements ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
High Alkalinity

Acid mine drainage (AMD) and red mud (RM) are frequently available in the metallurgical and mining industry. Treating AMD solutions require the generation of enough alkalinity to neutralize the acidity excess. RM, recognized as a waste generating high alkalinity solution when it is in contact with water, was chosen to treat AMD from South Africa at room temperature. A German and a Greek RM have been evaluated as a potential low-cost material to neutralize and immobilize harmful chemical ions from AMD. Results showed that heavy metals and other hazardous elements such as As, Se, Cd, and Zn had been immobilized in the mineral phase. According to European environmental standards, S and Cr, mainly present in RM, were the only two elements not immobilized below the concentration established for inert waste.

scholarly journals Performance Evaluation of Waste Materials for the Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage to Remove Heavy Metals and Sulfate

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Chandra Bhuyan ◽  
Subrat Kumar Bhuyan ◽  
Himanshu Bhushan Sahu
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Iron Oxidation ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Packed Bed ◽  
Cement Kiln ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
The Cost

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is the most severe environmental problem facing the mining sector in the current scenario because of low pH and high pollutants concentration. AMD contains a high amount of sulphate viz. pyrite, FeS2, and to a lesser extent pyrrhotite and heavy metal ions, contaminate both surface water and groundwater. To treat AMD, extensive research projects have been initiated by governments, the mining industry, universities, and research establishments. The environmental impact of AMD can be minimized at these basic levels; prevention should be taken to control the infiltration of groundwater to the pollution site and control the acid-generating process. There are some conventional active methods to treat AMD, such as compost reactor and packed bed iron-oxidation bioreactors; however, these methods have associated with costly material and high maintenance cost, which increases the cost of the entire treatment. In an alternative, the use of low-cost materials such as fly ash, metallurgical slag, zero-valent iron (ZVI), cement kiln dust (CKD), and organic waste such as peat humic agent (PHA), rice husk, and eggshell can be a valuable measure for economic viability to treat the metal-rich wastewater.

Using red mud bauxite for the neutralization of acid mine tailings: a column leaching test

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1167-1179 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Paradis ◽  
J Duchesne ◽  
A Lamontagne ◽  
D Isabel
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Red Mud ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Field Investigation ◽  
Drainage Water ◽  
Leaching Test ◽  
Column Leaching ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Column Leaching Test ◽  
Set Up

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is an environmental problem produced when sulphides come in contact with an oxidant (± bacteria) and water, producing acid generation and metals leaching. One solution proposed is to use red mud bauxite (RMB), which is very alkaline, to neutralize oxidized acidic tailings. A column leaching test has been set up to evaluate major aspects of field constraints. First, a field investigation was conducted in which RMB was spread in aggregates before mixing with tailings. This setup has been reproduced in the laboratory and compared with a homogeneous mixture. The analyses of the water effluent do not show any important difference between the two mixtures. Second, some studies show that the addition of Cl brine to RMB helps to maintain the long-term neutralization potential. Brine addition increased the concentrations of Ca, Mg, Na, K, and Cu in drainage water. Columns were set up with 10% and 20% RMB to evaluate the effect of the quantity applied. Addition of greater than 20% RMB increases the leachate alkalinity and concentrations of Al, Cu, Pb, As, Fe, and SO42– in drainage waters. The addition of 10% RMB, however, significantly improves the quality of drainage water over a period of 125 days and results in concentrations and pH values within the ranges of those recommended by Directive 019 of the Ministère de l'environnement, Québec.Key words: acid mine drainage, red mud bauxite, tailings, environmental geochemistry, neutralization.

scholarly journals Co-Disposal of Coal Gangue and Red Mud for Prevention of Acid Mine Drainage Generation from Self-Heating Gangue Dumps

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1081
Author(s):  
Zhou Ran ◽  
Yongtai Pan ◽  
Wenli Liu
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Red Mud ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Coal Gangue ◽  
Leaching Tests ◽  
Self Heating ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Acid Pollution ◽  
Dynamic Leaching

The seepage and diffusion of acid mine drainage (AMD) generated from self-heating coal gangue tailings caused acid pollution to the surrounding soil and groundwater. Red mud derived from the alumina smelting process has a high alkali content. To explore the feasibility of co-disposal of coal gangue and red mud for prevention of AMD, coal gangue and red mud were sampled from Yangquan (Shanxi Province, China), and dynamic leaching tests were carried out through the automatic temperature-controlled leaching system under the conditions of different temperatures, mass ratios, and storage methods. Our findings indicated that the heating temperature had a significant effect on the release characteristics of acidic pollutants derived from coal gangue, and that the fastest rate of acid production corresponding to temperature was 150 °C. The co-disposal dynamic leaching tests indicated that red mud not only significantly alleviated the release of AMD but also that it had a long-term effect on the treatment of acid pollution. The mass ratio and stacking method were selected to be 12:1 (coal gangue: red mud) and one layer was alternated (coal gangue covered with red mud), respectively, to ensure that the acid-base pollution indices of leachate reached the WHO drinking-water quality for long-term discharge. The results of this study provided a theoretical basis and data support for the industrial field application of solid waste co-treatment.

Preliminary Study of Neutralization and Inhibition of Chemolitotrophic Bacteria in an Acid Mine Drainage from Rio Tinto Site

2009 ◽  
Vol 71-73 ◽  
pp. 677-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Carnicero ◽  
E. Díaz ◽  
O. Escolano ◽  
D. Rubinos ◽  
O. Ballesteros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Red Mud ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Microbial Populations ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Neutralization Capacity ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Rio Tinto ◽  
Río Tinto

Limestone is commonly used for neutralization of acid mine drainage (AMD). Its main advantages are its lower price, sustained generation of alkalinity and production of low sludge volumes. Nevertheless, armouring of limestone by ferric hydroxides is a problem in oxic limestone drains and in active limestone treatment systems, reducing the efficiency of the process. Due to these disadvantages, there is a permanent search for cheaper and more effective neutralization agents. Many alkaline industrial wastes are gaining importance in the treatment of AMD. The possibilities to use two different industrial by-products, red mud from a bauxite exploitation and low grade magnesium hydroxide from a magnesite mine, as neutralizing and bacterial inhibiting agents, and the comparison with conventional limestone treatment has been studied in this paper. An AMD from Rio Tinto mine site with an initial pH of 2.4 and a ferric concentration of 1 g/L was used. Comparative test were done percolating the AMD in a continuous form with a peristaltic pump through three different columns filled with limestone, red mud and low grade magnesite, during one month and in same conditions of flow rate and amount of each compound used to fill the columns. The evolution of pH, iron and heavy metals, sulphates and microbial populations in the percolate were monitored at different times. The results showed that the best neutralization capacity was obtained with low grade magnesite during the month treatment. By contraire limestone and red mud loosed their neutralization capacity after 10 and 13 days respectively. The control of microbial populations showed that there is an inhibition of chemolithotropic bacteria as long as the materials maintain their neutralization capacity, reverting to the initial conditions when this capacity was loosed.

scholarly journals Clean Technology for the Treatment and Modelling of Acid Mine Drainage Effluent

2020 ◽  
Vol Special Issue (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
Surrounding Water ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Adsorption Technology ◽  
Process Factors ◽  
Experimental Trials ◽  
Metal Conjugates

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) exists as a phenomenon that involves the release of acidic water and metal conjugates, in and around mines, degrading the surrounding water environment. A real-time mining effluent is treated using low-cost adsorption technology using Combined Vegetable Waste Carbon (CVWC) as sorbent. Batch sorption was reviewed to know the effect of process factors on the removal of Cadmium (Cd), Zinc (Zn), and Iron (Fe). A two-level CCD (Central Composite Design) with three factors was adopted in the optimization of process factors. Also, the same factors were considered to review the ANNs (Artificial Neural Networks), model. A comparative statistical analysis was performed for the experimental data based on RMSE and R2 values in both RSM (Response Surface Methodology) and ANNs models. This study revealed that the ANNs model was well fit compared to RSM and this would probably reduce the experimental trials thereby reducing cumbersome calculations.

scholarly journals Hydrogeochemical Behavior of Reclaimed Highly Reactive Tailings, Part 1: Characterization of Reclamation Materials

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Kalonji-Kabambi ◽  
Bruno Bussière ◽  
Isabelle Demers
Keyword(s):  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Mine Waste ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Companion Paper ◽  
Mine Wastes ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
High Concentrations ◽  
Neutralizing Potential ◽  
Sulfide Tailings

The production of solid mine wastes is an integral part of the extraction and metallurgical processing of ores. The reclamation of highly reactive mine waste, with low neutralizing potential, is still a significant challenge for the mining industry, particularly when natural soils are not available close to the site. Some solid mine wastes present interesting hydro-geotechnical properties which can be taken advantage of, particularly for being used in reclamation covers to control acid mine drainage. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the use of mining materials (i.e., tailings and waste rock) in a cover with capillary barrier effects (CCBE) to prevent acid mine drainage (AMD) from highly reactive tailings. The first part of the project reproduced in this article involves context and laboratory validation of mining materials as suitable for a CCBE, while the companion paper reports laboratory and field results of cover systems made with mining materials. The main conclusions of the Part 1 of this study were that the materials studied (low sulfide tailings and waste rocks) had the appropriate geochemical and hydrogeological properties for use as cover materials in a CCBE. Results also showed that the cover mining materials are not acid-generating and that the LaRonde tailings are highly reactive with pH close to 2, with high concentrations of metals and sulfates.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Fly Ash and Red Mud as Strategies for Sustainable Acid Mine Drainage Management

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Viktoria Keller ◽  
Srećko Stopić ◽  
Buhle Xakalashe ◽  
Yiqian Ma ◽  
Sehliselo Ndlovu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fly Ash ◽  
Acid Mine Drainage ◽  
Red Mud ◽  
Mine Drainage ◽  
Ph Value ◽  
Coal Fly Ash ◽  
Precipitation Process ◽  
Acid Mine ◽  
Initial Ph ◽  
Acidic Mine Water

Acid mine drainage (AMD), red mud (RM) and coal fly ash (CFA) are potential high environmental pollution problems due to their acidity, toxic metals and sulphate contents. Treatment of acidic mine water requires the generation of enough alkalinity to neutralize the excess acidity. Therefore, red mud types from Germany and Greece were chosen for the neutralization of AMD from South Africa, where this problem is notorious. Because of the high alkalinity, German red mud is the most promising precipitation agent achieving the highest pH-values. CFA is less efficient for a neutralization and precipitation process. An increase in temperature increases the adsorption kinetics. The maximum pH-value of 6.0 can be reached by the addition of 100 g German red mud at 20 °C to AMD-water with an initial pH value of 1.9. German red mud removes 99% of the aluminium as aluminium hydroxide at pH 5.0. The rare earth elements (yttrium and cerium) are adsorbed by Greek red mud with an efficiency of 50% and 80% at 60 °C in 5 min, respectively.

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