Chemical and Hydraulic Characterisation of Passive Mine Water Treatment Systems in S.Wales, UK

摘要

Settling lagoons and constructed wetlands are widely used across the UK forthe passive treatment of mine water. The effectiveness of these systems foriron removal is dependant upon the rates of Fe(II) oxidation, settling rates ofparticulate Fe(III) and the system's hydraulic residence time. This studypresents the results of chemical and hydraulic characterisation of a number ofCoal Authority mine water treatment sites across South Wales. Included aresnapshots of iron removal performance for three passive mine water systems,two conventional lagoon and aerobic wetland systems and a RAPS system. Inaddition to examining changes in the concentration and speciation of ironacross the systems, the paper details the results of tracer tests that were used todetermine residence time distributions and also includes some noteworthyobservations made at the time of data collection. Understanding how the ironremoval mechanisms interact with the system's hydraulics is a necessary steptowards engineering improvements in passive mine water treatment systems.