Prediction of Acid Mine Drainage Treatment by Open Limestone-Alkaline Material Channel and Implications for the Large Scale Implementation of Passive Treatment

In decades, various studies on passive treatment methods of acid mine drainage (AMD) have been actively conducted in order to reduce the cost of AMD treatment. Open limestone channel is one of the most common methods and has already been implemented mainly in overseas. On the other hand, it is difficult to secure large channels in Japan due to its topography, we need to consider the use of alkaline materials with higher acid neutralization potential which enables successful treatment with narrower space. In this study, therefore, PAdeCS, a cement-derived environmental remediation agent, was used to remove the harmful metal elements by neutralization treatment. Then, we developed a simulation model assuming a combined system of open limestone channel and alkaline material (PAdeCS) channel and predicted the behavior of harmful metal elements within the combined channel. The simulation results showed that PAdeCS has extremely high acid neutralization potential, that high temperature is advantageous for neutralization treatment of harmful metal elements, and that the channel design needs to be changed depending on the initial drainage composition. Finally, a new flowchart for selecting the appropriate passive treatment method was proposed, which consists of three steps of the preferential removal of Fe, neutralization by limestone, and additional treatments

Effects of Cattails and Hydraulic Loading on Heavy Metal Removal from Closed Mine Drainage by Pilot-Scale Constructed Wetlands

This study demonstrated heavy metal removal from neutral mine drainage of a closed mine in Kyoto prefecture in pilot-scale constructed wetlands (CWs). The CWs filled with loamy soil and limestone were unplanted or planted with cattails. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) in the CWs was shortened gradually from 3.8 days to 1.2 days during 3.5 months of operation. A short HRT of 1.2 days in the CWs was sufficient to achieve the effluent standard for Cd (0.03 mg/L). The unplanted and the cattail-planted CWs reduced the average concentrations of Cd from 0.031 to 0.01 and 0.005 mg/L, Zn from 0.52 to 0.14 and 0.08 mg/L, Cu from 0.07 to 0.04 and 0.03 mg/L, and As from 0.011 to 0.006 and 0.006 mg/L, respectively. Heavy metals were removed mainly by adsorption to the soil in both CWs. The biological concentration factors in cattails were over 2 for Cd, Zn, and Cu. The translocation factors of cattails for all metals were 0.5–0.81. Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) belonging to Deltaproteobacteria were detected only from soil in the planted CW. Although cattails were a minor sink, the plants contributed to metal removal by rhizofiltration and incubation of SRB, possibly producing sulfide precipitates in the rhizosphere

MOESM1 of Hydraulic retention time and pH affect the performance and microbial communities of passive bioreactors for treatment of acid mine drainage

Additional file 1: Figure S1. Effect of HRT on pH/temperature, Zn/Fe concentrations, and Cu/Cd concentrations of the effluent water during 125-day operation under the neutral and acid conditions. Table S1. Illumina sequencing data of 16S rRNA genes and the calculated Îą-diversity indices