Open AccessAdvances and Gaps in the Knowledge of Thermodynamics and Crystallography of Acid Mine Drainage Sulfate Minerals
Author(s) -
Juraj Majzlan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
chimia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.387
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2673-2424
pISSN - 0009-4293
DOI - 10.2533/chimia.2010.699
Subject(s) - jarosite , solubility , chemistry , sulfate , acid mine drainage , sulfide , inorganic chemistry , decomposition , dissolution , metal , thermodynamics , mineralogy , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , physics
Acidic and metal-rich waters produced by sulfide decomposition at mining sites are termed acid mine drainage (AMD). They precipitate a number of minerals, very often sulfates. The recent advances in thermodynamic properties and crystallography of these sulfates are reviewed here. There is a reasonable amount of data for the divalent (Mg, Ni, Co, Fe2+, Cu, Zn) sulfates and these data may be combined with and optimized by temperature-relative humidity brackets available in the literature. For the sulfates with Fe3+, most data exist for jarosite; for other minerals and phases in this system, a few calorimetric studies were reported. No data whatsoever are available for the Fe2+-Fe3+ sulfates. A significant advance is the development of the Pitzer model for Fe3+-sulfate solutions and its confrontation with the available thermodynamic and solubility data. In summary, our knowledge about the thermodynamic properties of the AMD sulfates is unsatisfactory and fragmented.