The Challenges of Designing, Permitting, and Building a 1,200 GPM Passive Bioreactor for Metal Mine Drainage, West Fork Mine, Missouri

摘要

An active underground lead mine produces water having a pH of 8.0 with 0.4 to 0.6 mg/L of Pb and 0.18 mg/L of Zn. A full-scale 1,200 gpm capacity bioreactor system was designed and permitted based on a phased program of laboratory, bench and pilot scale bioreactor testing; it was constructed in mid-1996. The gravity flow system, covering a total surface area of about five acres (2 ha), is composed of a settling basin followed by two anaerobic bioreactors arranged in parallel which discharge into a rock filter polishing cell that is followed by a final aeration polishing pond. The primary lead removal mechanism is sulfate reduction/sulfide precipitation. The discharge has met stringent in-stream water quality requirements since its commissioning. The system was designed to last about 12 years, but estimates suggest a much longer life based on anticipated carbon consumption in the anaerobic cells.