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Passive Treatment Alternatives for Remediating Abandoned‐Mine Drainage
Author(s) -
Berghorn George H.,
Hunzeker George R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.1007
Subject(s) - acid mine drainage , drainage , sulfide minerals , environmental science , coal mining , drainage system (geomorphology) , water treatment , waste management , mining engineering , sulfide , environmental engineering , coal , environmental chemistry , chemistry , engineering , ecology , organic chemistry , biology
Abandoned‐mine drainage (AMD) is drainage flowing from or caused by surface mining, deepmining, or coal refuse piles that is typically highly acidic with elevated levels of dissolved metals. AMDresults from the interactions of certain sulfide minerals with oxygen, water, and bacteria. Passive treatmentsystems have been used to remediate AMD at numerous sites throughout the United States. The theory behindpassive treatment is to allow naturally occurring chemical, biological, and physical reactions that aid in AMDtreatment to occur in the controlled environment of the system, not in the receiving water body. The advantagesof passive treatment over active treatment include lower operation and maintenance costs, virtually no use ofchemicals, and minimal energy consumption. The disadvantages are that smaller volumes of water are treated thanwith active systems, and discharges with high concentrations of dissolved metals and extremes of pH may have tobe treated several times within one system to treat the discharge. AMD passive treatment systems include aerobictreatment systems and anaerobic treatment systems. It is estimated that it will take 50 years and between$5 billion and $15 billion to remediate all AMD problems in Pennsylvania. © 2001 John Wiley& Sons, Inc.