Treatment of zinc-rich acid mine water in low residence time bioreactors incorporating waste shells and methanol dosing

Metal removal mechanisms in a short hydraulic residence time subsurface flow compost wetland for mine drainage treatment

“…The volume of the initial slug and the subsequent semi-continuous carbon additions was determined from previous trials (Mayes et al, 2011).…”

“…The commencement of semi-continuous addition of liquid brewery waste 22 days later (Figure 1), in the form of 34 ml added daily, was followed by a small decrease in both total and filtered Zn concentrations in the effluent water for a period of approximately 7 days, but effluent Zn concentrations subsequently showed a gradual increase and treatment efficiency reduced to 47% (total Zn) and 70% (filtered Zn), which was significantly lower than that prior to carbon additions (Figure 1). Again, it is not certain why this occurred, though it is possible that the volume of carbon added was still too great, particularly given the relatively low influent sulfate concentration in the Rampgill mine water, compared to the higher influent sulfate concentration used in successful laboratory trials adding similar volumes of carbon (Mayes et al, 2011). Martins et al (2011) observed the same phenomenon when doubling the amount of carbon, in the form of wine wastes, added to laboratory columns, which resulted in an instant deterioration in performance.…”

Anaerobic treatment and resource recovery from methanol rich waste gases and wastewaters

“…Methanol is a cheap carbon source and electron donor for the treatment of sulfate , nitrate (Fernández-Nava et al, 2010) and zinc (Mayes et al, 2011) rich wastewaters.…”

Zinc Uptake from Circumneutral Mine Drainage in Freshwater Biofilms: New Insights from In Vitro Experiments

“…Many recent studies highlight the sub-lethal effects of Cu and Zn on salmonid behaviour at concentrations below aquatic life standard limits (McGeer et al 2000;Taylor et al 2009). Passive technologies for treating Zn-and Cu-rich waters include bioreactors, sorbent media, and low-cost reactants based on industrial by-products (Gandy and Jarvis 2012;Mayes et al 2011;Warrender et al 2011). While all have promise in various settings, treatment technologies that can effectively remove metals from circumneutral, mine water with a low residence time, small land footprint, and for long time periods are still needed.…”