Acid rock drainage passive remediation using alkaline clay and impacts of vegetation and saturated sand barrier
Abstract
Acid rock drainage (ARD) caused by abundance of coal refuse (CR) deposits in mining regions requires adequate treatment to prevent serious water pollution due to its acidity and high concentrations of sulfate and metals/metalloids. Over the past decades, various approaches have been explored and developed to remediate ARD. This study uses laboratory experiments to investigate the effectiveness and impacts of ARD passive remediation using alkaline clay (AC), a by-product of the aluminum refining process. Twelve column kinetic leaching experiments were set up with CR/AC mixing ratios ranging from 1%AC to 10%AC. Samples were collected from these columns to measure the pH, sulfate, metals/metalloids, acidity and alkalinity. Additional tests of XRD and acid base accounting were also conducted to better characterize the mineral phase in terms of the alkalinity and acidity potential. Based on the leachate measurement results, these columns were further classified into two groups of neutral/near neutral pH and acidic pH for further analysis. In addition, impacts of the vegetation and saturated sand layer on the remediation effectiveness were explored. The results of our long-term (more than three years in some cases) laboratory experiments show that AC is an effective ARD remediation material for the neutralization of leachate pH and immobilization of sulfate and metals such as Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Cd, Co. The CR/AC mixing ratios higher than 3%AC are found to be effective, with 10% close to optimal. Moreover, the results demonstrate the benefits of using vegetation and a saturated sand barrier. Vegetation acted as a phytoaccumulation/phytoextraction agent, causing an additional immobilization of metals. The saturated sand barrier blocked the oxygen and water diffusion downwards, leading to a reduction of the pyrite oxidation rate. Finally, the proposed remediation approach shows that the acidity consumption will likely occur before all the alkalinity is exhausted, guaranteeing an adequate long-term performance of this remediation approach.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFM.H11F1250P
- Keywords:
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- 1829 Groundwater hydrology;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1831 Groundwater quality;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1832 Groundwater transport;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1847 Modeling;
- HYDROLOGY