Environmental Safety Aspects of Solid Residues Resulting from Acid Mine Drainage Neutralization with Fresh and Aged Red Mud

2021 ◽  
Vol 232 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Smičiklas ◽  
Mihajlo Jović ◽  
Marija Janković ◽  
Slavko Smiljanić ◽  
Antonije Onjia
2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1167-1179 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Paradis ◽  
J Duchesne ◽  
A Lamontagne ◽  
D Isabel

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.


Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1081
Author(s):  
Zhou Ran ◽  
Yongtai Pan ◽  
Wenli Liu

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.


2009 ◽  
Vol 71-73 ◽  
pp. 677-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Carnicero ◽  
E. Díaz ◽  
O. Escolano ◽  
D. Rubinos ◽  
O. Ballesteros ◽  
...  

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.


Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Viktoria Keller ◽  
Srećko Stopić ◽  
Buhle Xakalashe ◽  
Yiqian Ma ◽  
Sehliselo Ndlovu ◽  
...  

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.


Metals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 620
Author(s):  
Hugo Lucas ◽  
Srecko Stopic ◽  
Buhle Xakalashe ◽  
Sehliselo Ndlovu ◽  
Bernd Friedrich

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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yihan Chi ◽  
Qinru Lin ◽  
Rongchuan Zhuang ◽  
Mingyu Xiong ◽  
Zhihong Ye

Abstract The reclamation of mine waste deposits is imperative but often hindered by the scarcity of natural topsoil. Studies have used various materials to reconstruct topsoil but mainly in coal mines, with scant information for metalliferous mines. Acid mine drainage sludge (AMDS), as a mass-produced waste in metalliferous mines, is a potential topsoil substitute because of its capacity to buffer acidification and support plant growth. In this study, a pot experiment with three plant species was conducted to evaluate the environmental safety and sustainable fertility of AMDS with the amelioration of fertilizers. Results showed that all the plants could survive in the AMDS even without fertilizers. The contents of heavy metal(loid)s were high but remained stable over the experimental period. Improving the AMDS with fertilizers enhanced its nutrient supply by increasing macronutrient contents and activities of soil enzymes, leading to significant increases in plant biomass. The AMDS also sustained its nutrient status throughout the experiment. Nevertheless, the extremely low NH4+-N and bioavailable phosphorus contents made these nutrients hardly accessible to plants, owing to the composting of the organic manure and the low richness and diversity of the bacterial community in the AMDS. Present results suggest that AMDS can be used as a viable and safe substitute for natural soil in reclaiming mine solid wastes but also needs proper improvement, especially for enhancing the microbial richness and diversity.


1984 ◽  
Vol 100 (1160) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
Yasuo KONNO ◽  
Hajime IKEDA ◽  
Takeshi SAKATA

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