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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.
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Juby, G. J. G., & Schutte, C. F. (2000). Membrane Life in a Seeded-slurry Reverse Osmosis System. Water Sa, 26(2), 239–248.
Abstract: Membrane replacement can be a major operating cost of a membrane plant. During the development of a novel desalination technique (the SPARRO process) for treating calcium sulphate scaling mine waters the expected life of tubular cellulose acetate membranes operating in the seeded-slurry mode was investigated.During four operating phases of the plant over a five-year period more than 9 000 h of operating data were obtained. Performance data showed that each operating phase was dominated by either membrane fouling or membrane hydrolysis. Membrane fouling was observed to begin near the front-end of the membrane stack and proceed towards the back. Hydrolysis, on the other hand, occurred first in the tail end of the stack and moved backwards towards the Front end modules. Although two detailed membrane autopsies were carried out no definitive statement can be made in respect of the causes of either membrane hydrolysis or membrane fouling. However, suggestions are presented to explain the observed fouling phenomenon in relation to the turbidity of the pretreated feed water and the presence of chlorine. It is proposed that the presence of radioactive isotopes in the mine water which become concentrated in the process contributes to the observed membrane hydrolysis. A membrane life of up to two years is projected for an improved pretreatment arrangement.
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Zhuang, J. M. (2004). Lignor(TM) process for acidic rock drainage treatment. Environ. Technol., 25(9), 1031–1040.
Abstract: The process using lignosulfonates for acidic rock drainage (ARD) treatment is referred to as the Lignor(TM) process. Lignosulfonates are waste by-products produced in the sulfite pulping process. The present study has shown lignosulfonates are able to protect lime from developing an external surface coating, and hence to favor its dissociation. Further, the addition of lignosulfonates to ARD solutions increased the clotting and settling rate of the formed sludge. The capability of lignosulfonates to form stable metal-lignin complexes makes them very useful in retaining metal ions and thus improving the long-term stability of the sludge against leaching. The Lignor(TM) process involves metal sorption with lignosulfonates, ARD neutralization by lime to about pH 7, pH adjustment with caustic soda to 9.4 – 9.6, air oxidation to lower the pH to a desired level, and addition of a minimum amount of FeCl3 for further removal of dissolved metals. The Lignor(TM) process removes all concerned metals (especially Al and Mn) from the ARD of the Britannia Mine (located at Britannia Beach, British Columbia, Canada) to a level lower than the limits of the B.C. Regulations. Compared with the high-density sludge (HDS) process, the Lignor(TM) process has many advantages, such as considerable savings in lime consumption, greatly reduced sludge volume, and improved sludge stability.
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Bechard, G. (1994). Use Of Cellulosic Substrates For The Microbial Treatment Of Acid-Mine Drainage. Journal of Environmental Quality, 23(1), 111–116.
Abstract: A mixed aerobic-anaerobic microbial treatment process was developed previously for acid mine drainage (AMD) using straw as a substrate. The process was effective only if AMD was supplemented with sucrose. The present study was conducted to determine which, if any, of three cellulosic materials could sustain the microbial treatment of AMD without the addition of a sucrose amendment and to determine the effect of the retention time on the performance of the reactors. The performance of small reactors that treated simulated AMD in the continuous mode was evaluated using alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) hay, timothy (Phleum pratense L.) hay, and straw with a 5 d retention time. Parameters measured were pH, Fe, Al, sulfate, and ammonium. Timothy hay and straw sustained AMD mitigation for 3 wk, and thereafter all activity ceased. After the reactors ceased treating AMD, the mitigative activities were reinitiated by the addition of sucrose, but not by urea. Alfalfa sustained AMD mitigation for a longer time period than either straw or timothy. The effect of three retention times, 3.5, 7, and 35 d, was then investigated for reactors containing fresh alfalfa. Increasing the retention time resulted in better metal removal and a greater pH increase. With a 7-d retention time, 75 L of simulated AMD were neutralized from a pH of 3.5 to a pH value greater than 6.5. Reactors operating with a 3.5-d retention time treated only 58.3 L of simulated AMD before failing. Ammonium was detected in effluents of active reactors. The results of this study indicate that a low maintenance microbial treatment system can be developed with alfalfa as a substrate without the addition of a sucrose amendment.
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Lee, B. H. (2006). Constructed wetlands: Treatment of concentrated storm water runoff (Part A). Environmental Engineering Science, 23(2), 320–331.
Abstract: The aim of this research was to assess the treatment efficiencies for gully pot liquor of experimental vertical-flow constructed wetland filters containing Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (common reed) and filter media of different adsorption capacities. Six out of 12 filters received inflow water spiked with metals. For 2 years, hydrated nickel and copper nitrate were added to sieved gully pot liquor to simulate contaminated primary treated storm runoff. For those six constructed wetland filters receiving heavy metals, an obvious breakthrough of dissolved nickel was recorded after road salting during the first winter. However, a breakthrough of nickel was not observed, since the inflow pH was raised to eight after the first year of operation. High pH facilitated the formation of particulate metal compounds such as nickel hydroxide. During the second year, reduction efficiencies of heavy metal, 5-days at 20 degrees C N-Allylthiourea biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and suspended solids (SS) improved considerably. Concentrations of BOD were frequently < 20 mg/L. However, concentrations for SS were frequently > 30 mg/L. These are the two international thresholds for secondary wastewater treatment. The BOD removal increased over time due to biomass maturation, and the increase of pH. An analysis of the findings with case-based reasoning can be found in the corresponding follow-up paper (Part B).
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