|
|
Waring, C. L., & Taylor, J. R. (1999). (R. Fernández Rubio, Ed.). Mine, Water & Environment. Ii: International Mine Water Association.
|
|
|
|
Van Hille, R. P., Boshoff, G. A., Rose, P. D., & Duncan, J. R. (1999). A continuous process for the biological treatment of heavy metal contaminated acid mine water. Resour. Conserv. Recycl., 27(1-2), 157–167.
Abstract: Alkaline precipitation of heavy metals from acidic water streams is a popular and long standing treatment process. While this process is efficient it requires the continuous addition of an alkaline material, such as lime. In the long term or when treating large volumes of effluent this process becomes expensive, with costs in the mining sector routinely exceeding millions of rands annually. The process described below utilises alkalinity generated by the alga Spirulina sp., in a continuous system to precipitate heavy metals. The design of the system separates the algal component from the metal containing stream to overcome metal toxicity. The primary treatment process consistently removed over 99% of the iron (98.9 mg/l) and between 80 and 95% of the zinc (7.16 mg/l) and lead (2.35 mg/l) over a 14-day period (20 l effluent treated). In addition the pH of the raw effluent was increased from 1.8 to over 7 in the post-treatment stream. Secondary treatment and polishing steps depend on the nature of the effluent treated. In the case of the high sulphate effluent the treated stream was passed into an anaerobic digester at a rate of 4 l/day. The combination of the primary and secondary treatments effected a removal of over 95% of all metals tested for as well as a 90% reduction in the sulphate load. The running cost of such a process would be low as the salinity and nutrient requirements for the algal culture could be provided by using tannery effluent or a combination of saline water and sewage. This would have the additional benefit of treating either a tannery or sewage effluent as part of an integrated process.
|
|
|
|
Limited, S. C. (1994). MEND Report. 3.32.1: The Mine Environment Neutral Drainage [MEND] Program.
|
|
|
|
Masarczyk, J., Hansson, C. H., Solomon, R. L., & Hallmans, B. (1989). Desalination Plant at Kwk-debiensko, Poland – Advanced Mine Drainage Water-treatment Engineering for Zero Discharge. Desalination, 75(1-3), 259–287.
Abstract: The river water in Poland has, to a great extent, such a high salinity that it cannot be used as drinking water, agricultural or industrial water. A large environmental project is now under progress in Katowice, Poland, in order to eliminate the wastewater discharge from two coal mines — Debiensko and Budryk. The highly brackish water will be desalinated in a reverse osmosis plant, followed by vapor compression distillation with seed crystals (RCC), crystallization and sodium chloride drying. This zero discharge process will produce about 8,000 m3/d drinking water an 370 tonnes/d NaCl. The paper describes the design of the plant. Trial operation of pre-treatment and reverse osmosis in a pilot plant for design of the full-scale plant at Debiensko is described in a separate paper.
|
|
|
|
Kuyucak, N., Lindvall, M., Rufo Serrano, J. A., & Oliva, A. F. (1999). (R. Fernández Rubio, Ed.). Mine, Water & Environment. Ii: International Mine Water Association.
Abstract: Lime neutralization is a frequently used method in the mining industry for the treatment of acid waters. These waters contain metal ions such as zinc, manganese, copper, cadmium, lead, etc. The conventional, straight lime neutralization technology generates a Low Density Sludge (LDS) having only 1-2% solids content. This creates sludge disposal difficulties, and results in the loss of potentially large quantities of recovered water, which in turn increases the demand for fresh water requirements for mining/milling activities. The High Density Sludge (HDS) process, on the other hand, is the state-of-the-art technology in North America. It generates a dense sludge with less volume and better particulate properties. Furthermore, the typical gelatinous nature of the sludge changes to a granulated, sand-like texture. Boliden Apirsa, S.L. investigated the feasibility of an HDS process to increase the treatment capacity of their existing plant, and resolve the issues associated with the LDS process for their Los Frailes project. The project required, given that the production of ore was going to be doubled, a significant increase in water was needed without altering the water reservoir sitting north of the concentrator. In addition, the final effluent quality was a priority issue. First, a pilot-scale study was undertaken in 1996, and parameters critical to the design and performance of the process were determined. The results showed that the HDS process could significantly improve the sludge characteristics by increasing the solids fraction from 1.5 to 12.0%, thereby decreasing the sludge volume to be disposed to the tailings ponds by a factor of 10. A full-scale, HDS lime neutralization treatment plant for an average flow rate of 1500 m3/hr was designed and was commissioned in early 1998 in collaboration with Colder Associates, Ottawa, Canada. So far, the full-scale treatment plant has been generating a sludge with more than 30% solids content, exceeding its target value of 12% solids. It produces excellent effluent quality, and scaling in the handling equipment is virtually eliminated. The sludge has dense, easily settable granular particles rather than fluffy flocs, yet has low viscosity that facilitates its unassisted gravity flow. The process has resulted in an increase in the treated water volume. The rate of lime consumption per unit volume of water treated also decreased. The process principles and the steps taken in process development will be discussed and the results obtained to date will be summarized in this communication.
|
|
