Use of Abandoned Mine Drainage for the Development of Unconventional Gas Resources

Abstract. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR) implements an Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Emergency Program to address high-priority, abandoned mine land (AML) problems that suddenly occur throughout Pennsylvania’s coal fields. BAMR maintains two field offices: one in eastern Pennsylvania (Anthracite Region) in Wilkes-Barre and one in western Pennsylvania (Bituminous Region) in Ebensburg. Both field offices maintain in-house construction crews with significant equipment available to respond to and address many small AML Emergencies (hazards) such as pothole (or cavehole), subsidences, and mine drainage breakouts. For larger AML Emergencies such as subsidence events causing structural damage to homes, businesses, and roads; mine fires; coal refuse fires; landslides; or other large-scale or complex AML problems, projects are completed by outside contractors. Project designs are completed by BAMR engineering staff. The contractors are then hired through solicitation of bids or proposals with very short timeframes between bid issue and bid opening. Since October of 2010, BAMR has addressed nearly 800 AML Emergencies which equates to approximately 80 AML Emergency projects each calendar year. The average construction cost to address those emergencies was just over $3.25 million per year. Due to the increased precipitation over the Commonwealth the last several years, that number has increased to an average of 86 AML Emergency projects over the last five (5) years (2015–2019) with a record number of 127 addressed in calendar year 2018. The average cost to address those AML Emergency projects over that five-year period was $4.66 million per year. This paper will provide some background on Pennsylvania’s AML Emergency Program, some summary statistics including the annual number and types of projects completed including costs, and also highlight through both photos and video links some typical projects recently completed by the program.

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MAPPING ACID MINE DRAINAGE AT AN ABANDONED MINE SITE IN OTTAWA COUNTY, OKLAHOMA USING 3D ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TOMOGRAPHY

10.4133/sageep.28-040 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Cas F. Bridge ◽

Karson R. Bizzell ◽

Kumar Ramachandran

Keyword(s):

Electrical Resistivity ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Electrical Resistivity Tomography ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Abandoned Mine ◽

Resistivity Tomography ◽

Mine Site ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Abandoned Mine Site

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Acid Mine Drainage From Abandoned Mine Sites: Problematic and Reclamation Approaches

Advances in Environmental Geotechnics ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-04460-1_6 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 111-125 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Bruno BussiÈre

Keyword(s):

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Abandoned Mine ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Abandoned Mine Sites ◽

Mine Sites

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Effect of Dissolved CO2 in Acid Mine Drainage on Sludge Composition

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7233 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Giljae Yim ◽

Youngwook Cheong ◽

Joonhak Lee ◽

Sanghyun Cho ◽

Wonhyun Ji

Keyword(s):

Mine Drainage ◽

Neutralization Test ◽

Xrd Analysis ◽

Abandoned Mine ◽

Raw Water ◽

High Concentration ◽

Quality Change ◽

Water Quality Change ◽

Slaked Lime ◽

Mineral Assessment

Among the variables affecting the volume and composition sludge generated in the semi-active mine drainage treatment facility operating in Korea, the effect of CO2 dissolved in the mine drainage on the sludge composition was studied.The water quality change was analyzed by neutralizing 1m3 of mine drainage from the Ilkwang abandoned mine. The neutralization with lime slurry resulted in removal of Fe, Al, Cu and SiO2, and an increase in Ca content in neutralized water. The dissolved CO2 in raw water was 56 mg/L but decreased to <1 mg/L after neutralization. The dissolved CO2 in the mine drainage can be consumed to form calcite or be removed by degassing before neutralization. There is also a possibility that gypsum may be produced depending on pH due to the high concentration of Ca and SO4 enriched.The amount of sludge generated through the neutralization test was insufficient for analysis. Therefore, chemical analysis and mineral assessment were performed on the effluent, sludge and cakes generated in the settling pond in the Ilkwang abandoned mine. XRD analysis showed that calcite (CaCO3) and Bassanite (CaSO4 &#183; H2O) were commonly found in red and white sludge. CO2 in the mine drainage reacted with CaO to affect the sludge composition. As a result of the XRF, white sludge contained 35.57% of CaO, indicating that a large amount of slaked lime was included. Red sludge and cakes had a Fe2O3 content of more than 35%, so iron was the main ingredient. In addition, the CaO content was analyzed as 15.28%, the second major component. As a result of measuring the paste pH of the dehydrated cake, it can be seen that the pH is in the range of 9 to 10 due to CaO. The sludge shows strong alkali characteristics, indicating that slaked lime remains in the sludge. The remaining slaked lime will increase the sludge volume and increase the sludge management costs.

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