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Acid mine drainage treatment with rotating biological contactors
Author(s) -
Olem Harvey,
Unz Richard F.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.260191006
Subject(s) - rotating biological contactor , acid mine drainage , ferrous , effluent , oxidizing agent , chemistry , iron bacteria , population , ferric , nuclear chemistry , mineralogy , pulp and paper industry , metallurgy , environmental engineering , environmental chemistry , environmental science , geology , materials science , inorganic chemistry , bacteria , paleontology , demography , organic chemistry , sociology , engineering
A pilot scale rotating biological contactor (RBC) was set up near a coal mine at Hollywood, Penn. to evaluate ferrous iron, Fe(II), oxidation. Acid drainage from this mine entered the treatment unit which consisted of four sets of plastic disks affixed to a rotating central shaft. As the disks rotated half immersed in the flowing mine water, iron‐oxidizing bacteria, presumed to be Thiobacillus ferrooxidans , colonized the disk surfaces with an average population of 70,000 cells/cm 2 and mediated the transformation of Fe(II) to the less soluble ferric state, Fe(III). Kinetics of microbial Fe(II) oxidation were established during an eleven month period of continuous pilot operation and were found to follow a concentration dependent first order relationship. Operating at an optimum disk rotation rate and hydraulic loadings of 2.7 and 5.4 gal/day‐ft 2 (0.11 and 0.22 m 3 /day‐m 2 ) resulted in the oxidation of an average 240 mg/liter influent Fe(II) to produce effluent Fe(II) of 2 and mg/liter, respectively. The RBC appears potentially useful as a first step in the total treatment of acid mine drainage.