Passive removal of sulphate and heavy metals from acid mine drainage using sewage sludge and fly ash

Abstract

This study aims to calculate the removal efficiency (%RE) of metals and sulphate and the constant rate of sulphate reduction from acid mine drainage (AMD) based on passive treatment principles named permeable reactive barrier (PRB) in batch test prior column test. Three media mixtures containing a variety of domestic sewage sludge (SE), mess hall compost (CO), cocopeat (CP), and fly ash (FA) were simulated. All reactive materials are solid waste from other operating units. M1 and M2 were contains organic and inorganic waste, M3 was only contain organic waste. The AMD was collected from a copper mining waste rock dump of which contained high sulphate, metals, and low pH. Batch tests were conducted in a series of glass bottles in an anaerobic chamber, and sub-samplings were taken on days 0, 7, 14, and 28. At the end of treatment, it indicated that M1 mixture resulting in the highest sulphate (SO4 2-) removal (44%), highest alkalinity generation of 1431 mg/L (as CaCO3) and %RE of Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, and Zn were expected to be 100%, Ni 82%, Se 57%, and Mn 98%. Additional of FA for treatment such in M1 and M2 releasing more As in the final result compare to M3 that only contain organic substrates. The primary mechanism controlling the reaction from the M1 was a combination of sulphide precipitation enhanced by Sulphate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) activities supported by pH buffering and hydroxide precipitation. The sulphate reduction mechanism assumed to be the first-order reaction with highest rate constants found as 0.0208 d−1 from M1 reactors, 0.0144 d−1, 0.0161 d−1 for M2 and M3 respectively.