Hydraulic residence time and iron removal in a wetland receiving ferruginous mine water over a 4 year period from commissioning

Kusin, Faradiella Mohd; Jarvis, Adam P.; Gandy, Catherine J.

doi:10.2166/wst.2010.495

Cited by 15 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…Badly maintained wetlands with spatially irregular vegetation distribution or silting up can have opposite effects, such as flow channelling or plugging (Brix 1994;Jadhav and Buchberger 1995;Klerk et al 2016;Persson et al 1999;Wahl et al 2012). Field tracer tests of various settling ponds and wetlands in UK passive mine water treatment systems showed better hydraulic efficiency for wetlands, whereas the effective volume of settling ponds was often considerably reduced due to dispersed flow, poor mixing, and short-circuiting (Kruse et al 2009;Kusin et al 2010;Sapsford 2013).…”

Section: Hydraulic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Macrophytes in Constructed Surface-flow Wetlands for Mine Water Treatment: A Review

Opitz

Alte²,

Bauer³

et al. 2021

Mine Water Environ

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Constructed wetlands are a standard sustainable technology in waste and mine water treatment. Whereas macrophytes actively contribute to decomposition and/or removal of wastewater’s organic pollutants, removal of hydrolysable metals from mine water is not attributable to direct metabolic, but rather various indirect macrophyte-related mechanisms. These mechanisms result in higher treatment efficiency of (vegetated) wetlands relative to (unvegetated) settling ponds. Contribution of macrophytes to treatment predominantly includes: enhanced biogeochemical oxidation and precipitation of hydrolysable metals due to catalytic reactions and bacterial activity, particularly on immersed macrophyte surfaces; physical filtration of suspended hydrous ferric oxides by dense wetland vegetation down to colloids that are unlikely to gravitationally settle efficiently; scavenging and heteroaggregation of dissolved and colloidal iron, respectively, by plant-derived natural organic matter; and improved hydrodynamics and hydraulic efficiency, considerably augmenting retention and exposure time. The review shows that constructed surface-flow wetlands have considerable advantages that are often underestimated. In addition to treatment enhancement, there are socio-environmental benefits such as aesthetic appearance, biotope/habitat value, and landscape diversity that need to be considered. However, there is currently no quantitative, transferrable approach to adequately describe the effect and magnitude of macrophyte-related benefits on mine water amelioration, let alone clearly assign optimal operational deployment of either settling ponds or wetlands. A better (quantitative) understanding of underlying processes and kinetics is needed to optimise assembly and sizing of settling ponds and wetlands in composite passive mine water treatment systems.

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Section: Hydraulic Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Macrophytes in Constructed Surface-flow Wetlands for Mine Water Treatment: A Review

Opitz

Alte²,

Bauer³

et al. 2021

Mine Water Environ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

New perspectives on the passive treatment of ferruginous circumneutral mine waters in the UK

Sapsford

2013

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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This paper examines major physico-chemical processes during the passive treatment of ferruginous circumneutral drainage from abandoned coal mines in the UK. Data collected over several years of studies on mine water treatment systems shed new light on the relative importance of hydraulics, settling velocity, Fe(II) oxidation rates and cascade aeration, which, in turn, informs the design of future systems. This paper demonstrates that (1) the complex settling behaviour of Fe(III) precipitates may be described by a first-order volumetric process and that settling rate is different for different mine waters; (2) the hydraulic efficiency (ratio of time to peak tracer concentration to nominal residence time) of the settling ponds studied was widely variable at low flow rates in comparison to constructed wetlands; (3) aeration cascades contribute dissolved oxygen and lead to a rise in pH due to CO2 degassing, which are very important in reducing the required time for iron oxidation and removal; (4) for at least 10 of the 30 sites examined, modelling of the rates of Fe(II) oxidation and particulate settling reveals that removal of iron is primarily dependent on settling rate; and (5) that substantial increases in pH can be brought about by forced aeration of mine water over several hours. Findings of this study apply to the majority of coal mine water treatment sites in the UK and may have broader application to other ferruginous waters with circumneutral pH or after treatment to increase pH.

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Hybrid off-river augmentation system as an alternative raw water resource: the hydrogeochemistry of abandoned mining ponds

et al. 2016

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The use of water from abandoned mining ponds under a hybrid off-river augmentation system (HORAS) has been initiated as an alternative water resource for raw water. However, it raises the questions over the safety of the use of such waters. In this study, the hydrogeochemical analysis of the waters is presented to assess the degree to which the water has been contaminated. Comparisons were made between sampling sites, i.e. abandoned mining ponds, active sand mining ponds and the receiving streams within Bestari Jaya, Selangor River basin. The aqueous geochemistry analysis showed different hydrochemical signatures of major elements between sites, indicating different sources of minerals in the water. Discharges from the sand mining ponds were found to contain elevated availability of dissolved concentrations of iron, manganese, lead, copper and zinc, among others. However, the quality of the water (from the main river) that is supplied for potable water consumption is at a satisfactory level despite being partly sourced from the abandoned mining ponds. In fact, all the metal concentrations detected were well below the Malaysia Ministry of Health guideline limits for untreated raw water. In addition, the results of the geochemical index analysis (i.e. geoaccumulation index, enrichment factor and modified contamination factor) showed that the rivers and abandoned mining ponds were generally unpolluted with respect to the metals found in sediments.

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Hydraulic residence time and iron removal in a wetland receiving ferruginous mine water over a 4 year period from commissioning

Cited by 15 publications

References 9 publications

The Role of Macrophytes in Constructed Surface-flow Wetlands for Mine Water Treatment: A Review

The Role of Macrophytes in Constructed Surface-flow Wetlands for Mine Water Treatment: A Review

New perspectives on the passive treatment of ferruginous circumneutral mine waters in the UK

Hybrid off-river augmentation system as an alternative raw water resource: the hydrogeochemistry of abandoned mining ponds

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