Review: Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in Abandoned Coal Mines of Shanxi, China

Excessive exploitation and massive coal mine closures have brought about extensive goafs in Shanxi where 8780 coal mines have been abandoned in the last 20 years. Acid mine drainage (AMD) poses severe environmental impact and has become a prominent problem in Shanxi abandoned coal mine areas, which has aggravated the shortage of water resources and threatened the safety of the local drinking water supply. The purpose of this review is to protect the precious water resources and maintain sustainable use in Shanxi coal mines and downstream. By retrieving and analyzing about 90 domestic and international publications, a critical review of the AMD research results in Shanxi abandoned coal mines is conducted from the perspective of the formation mechanism, migration and transformation, prediction, treatment and management. The results shows that pyrite is the prerequisite for the formation of AMD, oxygen is the inducement, water is the carrier, and Fe3+ and microorganisms are the catalyst. The roadway system and geological structure are the dominant control factors. Finally, current difficulties and future research are pointed out. It is necessary to further strengthen the systematic research on the geological and hydrogeological conditions of abandoned coal mines, and explore an efficient, cheap, environmental technology, and construct the pollution risk assessment model for the AMD treatment. This study provides a scientific basis for the comprehensive treatment and management of AMD in abandoned coal mines in Shanxi.

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Geochemistry and stable isotope investigation of acid mine drainage associated with abandoned coal mines in central Montana, USA

Chemical Geology ◽

10.1016/j.chemgeo.2009.05.026 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 269 (1-2) ◽

pp. 100-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Christopher H. Gammons ◽

Terence E. Duaime ◽

Stephen R. Parker ◽

Simon R. Poulson ◽

Patrick Kennelly

Keyword(s):

Stable Isotope ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Coal Mines ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Abandoned Coal Mines ◽

Central Montana

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Effects of Long-Term Discharge of Acid Mine Drainage from Abandoned Coal Mines on Soil Microorganisms: Microbial Community Structure, Interaction Patterns and Metabolic Functions

10.21203/rs.3.rs-385887/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Di Chen ◽

Qiyan Feng ◽

Haoqian Liang

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Coal Mines ◽

Interaction Patterns ◽

Nitrogen Fixing ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Metabolic Functions ◽

Abandoned Coal Mines

Abstract More than twenty abandoned coal mines in the Yudong River basin of Guizhou Province have discharged acid mine drainage (AMD) for a long time. The revelation of microbial community composition, interaction patterns and metabolic functions can contributes to the ecological remediation of AMD pollution. In this study, reference and contaminated soils were collected along the AMD flow path for high-throughput sequencing. Results showed that the long-term AMD pollution promoted the evolution of γ-Proteobacteria, and the acidophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria Ferrovum (relative abundance of 15.50%) and iron-reducing bacteria Metallibacterium (9.87%) belonging to this class became the dominant genera. Co-occurrence analysis revealed that the proportion of positive correlations among bacteria increased from 51.02% (reference soil) to 75.16% (contaminated soil), suggesting that acidic pollution promotes the formation of mutualistic interaction networks of microorganisms. Metabolic function prediction (Tax4Fun) revealed that AMD contamination enhanced the microbial functions such as translation, repair, and biosynthesis of peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharide etc., which may be an adaptive mechanism for microbial survival in extremely acidic environment. In addition, the acidic pollution promoted the high expression of nitrogen fixing genes in soil, and the discovery of autotrophic nitrogen fixing bacteria such as Ferrovum provided the possibility of bioremediation of AMD pollution.

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Potential Risks of Effluent from Acid Mine Drainage Treatment Plants at Abandoned Coal Mines

Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology ◽

10.1007/s00128-012-0592-0 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 88 (6) ◽

pp. 990-996 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jaehwan Seo ◽

Sung-Wook Kang ◽

Wonhyun Ji ◽

Hun-Je Jo ◽

Jinho Jung

Keyword(s):

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Coal Mines ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Abandoned Coal Mines ◽

Potential Risks ◽

Acid Mine Drainage Treatment

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Passive treatment test of acid mine drainage from an abandoned coal mine in Kaili Guizhou, China

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2021.405 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Li Wenbo ◽

Feng Qiyan ◽

Liang Haoqian ◽

Chen Di ◽

Li Xiangdong

Keyword(s):

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Coal Mines ◽

Guizhou Province ◽

Main Reaction ◽

Experimental Conditions ◽

Mineralogical Characterization ◽

Mixture Ratio ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Abandoned Coal Mines

Abstract Discharge of acid mine drainage (AMD) from abandoned coal mines of the YuDong catchment in Kaili City, Guizhou Province, China, has severely damaged local ecological environments. In this study, a laboratory-scale dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) was studied for the treatment of simulated AMD. The experimental conditions and reaction mechanisms were preliminarily explored. The treatment effect and variation law of vertical effluent water quality of the experimental conditions were thoroughly analysed. The results indicated that small-sized limestone (diameter 5–7 mm) having a 20:1 mixture ratio with shavings and minimum HRT of 20 hours result in increasing effluent pH from 3.5 to 6.6, achieving 66.2% and 99.1% removal of Fe and Al, respectively. There were obvious differences in each reaction layer for the removal of various pollutants from AMD along the depth by DAS, the main reaction zone was first 20–30 cm of reaction column. The removal process of metal ions and sulfate was accompanied by bio-mineralization reaction. This test provided a valuable support for the local practical engineering applications, enriched the AMD processing technology experimental cases, and provided reference for the treatment technology of similar polluted areas. HIGHLIGHT A dispersed alkaline substrate was designed to treat the acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines of YuDong valley, which provides a reference for the further design of site device and other similar contaminated areas. Combining the physical and chemical parameters of the effluent, mineralogical characterization of the filler along with the microbial diversity of the system, the mechanism of DAS treatment of AMD was analyzed.

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Assessment of Characteristics of Acid Mine Drainage Treated with Fly Ash

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11093910 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 3910

Author(s):

Saba Shirin ◽

Aarif Jamal ◽

Christina Emmanouil ◽

Akhilesh Kumar Yadav

Keyword(s):

Fly Ash ◽

Acid Mine Drainage ◽

Power Plants ◽

Mine Drainage ◽

Thermal Power ◽

Mineralogical Characterization ◽

Acid Mine ◽

Before And After ◽

Abandoned Coal Mines

Acid mine drainage (AMD) occurs naturally in abandoned coal mines, and it contains hazardous toxic elements in varying concentrations. In the present research, AMD samples collected from an abandoned mine were treated with fly ash samples from four thermal power plants in Singrauli Coalfield in the proximate area, at optimized concentrations. The AMD samples were analyzed for physicochemical parameters and metal content before and after fly ash treatment. Morphological, geochemical and mineralogical characterization of the fly ash was performed using SEM, XRF and XRD. This laboratory-scale investigation indicated that fly ash had appreciable neutralization potential, increasing AMD pH and decreasing elemental and sulfate concentrations. Therefore, fly ash may be effectively used for AMD neutralization, and its suitability for the management of coalfield AMD pits should be assessed further.

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