Development of Integrated Passive Water Treatment Systems forthe Treatment of Mine Waters

摘要

A sustained eight-year major research effort has been undertaken inrnSouth Africa to develop integrated passive water treatment systems forrnthe sustainable removal of sulfates, while simultaneously addressing thernremoval of metals and acidity. The research effort addressed the problemrnboth at a fundamental science level and at the more empirical pilot plantrnlevel. Whereas there are numerous anaerobic sulfate reducing reactors inrnoperation on mine waters that remove some sulfate together with metalsrnand acidity, these are typically plagued by low sulfate removal efficiencyrnand gradual reductions in overall reactor efficiency with time. The SouthrnAfrican research effort has focused on understanding the fundamentalrnmicrobiological and biochemical reactions that occur in anaerobicrnreactors filled with lignocellulosic material and subjected to high sulfaternwater. Hypotheses have been developed that differentiate the reactionsrnoccurring in such a reactor into groups that should be individuallyrnoptimised and these hypotheses have been verified through rigorousrnlaboratory and pilot scale studies. The results of this research arernincorporated into a patented multi-stage integrated passive treatmentrnsystem that is capable of sustained high rate removal of sulfates, metalsrnand acidity.