title: A continuous pilot-scale system using coal-mine drainage sludge to treat acid mine drainage contaminated with high concentrations of Pb, Zn, and other heavy metals.
abstract: A series of pilot-scale tests were conducted with a continuous system composed of a stirring tank reactor, settling tank, and sand filter. In order to treat acidic drainage from a Pb-Zn mine containing high levels of heavy metals, the potential use of coal-mine drainage sludge (CMDS) was examined. The pilot-scale tests showed that CMDS could effectively neutralize the acidic drainage due to its high alkalinity production. A previous study revealed that calcite and goethite contained in CMDS contributed to dissolutive coprecipitation and complexation with heavy metals. The continuous system not only has high removal efficiencies (97.2-99.8%), but also large total rate constants (K(total), 0.21-10.18h(-1)) for all heavy metals. More specifically, the pilot system has a much higher Zn(II) loading rate (45.3gm(-3)day(-1)) than other reference systems, such as aerobic wetland coupled with algal mats and anoxic limestone drains. The optimum conditions were found to be a CMDS loading of 280gL(-1) and a flow rate of 8Lday(-1), and the necessary quantity of CMDS was 91.3gL(-1)day(-1), as the replacement cycle of CMDS was determined to be 70 days.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, 5 Anam-dong, Seoul 136-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mingcan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.forename: Sang-Hyun
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jeehyeong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khim
authors.forename: Fred S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Cannon
mesh_terms: D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry; D003032:Coal Mining; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D007220:Industrial Waste; D058085:Iron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000737:chemistry*; D008903:Minerals / Q000737:chemistry; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; D007220:Industrial Waste; D058085:Iron Compounds; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D008903:Minerals; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C094886:goethite; C000499:ferric oxide; D002119:Calcium Carbonate