Hydrochemical performance and mineralogical evolution of a dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) remediating the highly polluted acid mine drainage in the full-scale passive treatment of Mina Esperanza (SW Spain)
-
Manuel A. Caraballo
,
Francisco Macías
Abstract
Acid mine drainage remediation is an unresolved matter in abandoned mining districts around the world. Development and implementation of passive treatment systems in these areas are commonly focused on engineering and water quality aspects. Neoformed mineral phases precipitated within the reactive material of these passive treatments account for the removal of pollutants but also can cause clogging and passivation of the reactive substrate. After 20 months of operation and monitoring, the limestone-based passive treatment system implemented in Mina Esperanza (SW Spain) was sampled to study the relationship between water chemistry, mineral composition of the neoformed precipitates, and treatment performance. Water chemical profiles show the existence of three precipitation zones controlled by Fe, Al, and Zn hydrochemistry and also a migration with time of precipitation zones downward into the reactive material. These precipitation zones were also confirmed by a mineral study performed on the solid samples where either schwertmannite and goethite or hydrobasaluminite and Zn-rich green rust were the mineral phases that controlled the metal removal in the three precipation (Fe, Al, or Zn) zones. Iron and Al precipitates were observed to play a critical role in the time evolution of the reactive material hydraulic conductivity. Furthermore, Al precipitates passivated to some extent the limestone grains by armoring, although migration of the Fe precipitation zone and Al redissolution later activated the limestone grains. A higher proportion of limestone in the reactive mixture and the addition of new reagents to the bottom section of the reactive material (to enhance the reducing environment and to promote divalent metal removal) are proposed on the basis of this hydrochemical and mineralogical study for a future design for the Mina Esperanza passive treatment system.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
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- Water in upper mantle pyroxene megacrysts and xenocrysts: A survey study
- Mesoscale twinning and crystallographic registers in biominerals
- Radiation effects on cathodoluminescence of albite
- Structure refinement of high-pressure hexagonal aluminous phases K1.00Mg2.00Al4.80Si1.15O12 and Na1.04Mg1.88Al4.64Si1.32O12
- Elastic softening of metamict titanite CaTiSiO5: Radiation damage and annealing
- An experimental study of the diffusion of C and O in calcite in mixed CO2-H2O fluid
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- An experimental study of OH solubility in rutile at 500–900 °C, 0.5–2 GPa, and a range of oxygen fugacities
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- Structural studies of NH4-exchanged natrolites at ambient conditions and high temperature
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- Calibration for IR measurements of OH in apatite
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Articles in the same Issue
- High-pressure Raman spectroscopic studies of ulvöspinel Fe2TiO4
- Brearleyite, Ca12Al14O32Cl2, a new alteration mineral from the NWA 1934 meteorite
- The 3.65 Å phase in the system MgO-SiO2-H2O: Synthesis, composition, and structure
- Water in upper mantle pyroxene megacrysts and xenocrysts: A survey study
- Mesoscale twinning and crystallographic registers in biominerals
- Radiation effects on cathodoluminescence of albite
- Structure refinement of high-pressure hexagonal aluminous phases K1.00Mg2.00Al4.80Si1.15O12 and Na1.04Mg1.88Al4.64Si1.32O12
- Elastic softening of metamict titanite CaTiSiO5: Radiation damage and annealing
- An experimental study of the diffusion of C and O in calcite in mixed CO2-H2O fluid
- Hydrochemical performance and mineralogical evolution of a dispersed alkaline substrate (DAS) remediating the highly polluted acid mine drainage in the full-scale passive treatment of Mina Esperanza (SW Spain)
- The effect of fO₂ on the partitioning and valence of V and Cr in garnet/melt pairs and the relation to terrestrial mantle V and Cr content
- An experimental study of OH solubility in rutile at 500–900 °C, 0.5–2 GPa, and a range of oxygen fugacities
- The growth interval of garnet in the UHP eclogites from the Dabie orogen, China
- Structural studies of NH4-exchanged natrolites at ambient conditions and high temperature
- Morphology and microstructure of magnetite and ilmenite inclusions in plagioclase from Adirondack anorthositic gneiss
- Thermodynamic properties of stishovite by low-temperature heat capacity measurements and the coesite-stishovite transition boundary
- Mechanisms of Cr and H incorporation in stishovite determined by single-crystal EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations
- Paramagnetic interactions in the 31P NMR spectroscopy of rare earth element orthophosphate (REPO4, monazite/xenotime) solid solutions
- Garnet sector and oscillatory zoning linked with changes in crystal morphology during rapid growth, North Cascades, Washington
- Phase stability, elastic behavior, and pressure-induced structural evolution of kalsilite: A ceramic material and high-T/high-P mineral
- A new type of high-pressure low-flow metering valve for continuous decompression: First experimental results on degassing of rhyodacitic melts
- Substitution mechanisms and implications for the estimate of water fugacity for Ti-rich phlogopite from Mt. Vulture, Potenza, Italy
- Calibration for IR measurements of OH in apatite
- Electrolytic coloration and spectral properties of natural calcite crystals
- Compositional dependent compressibility of dissolved water in silicate glasses
- In situ monitoring of lepidocrocite bioreduction and magnetite formation by reflection Mössbauer spectroscopy
- Direct determination of europium valence state by XANES in extraterrestrial merrillite: Implications for REE crystal chemistry and martian magmatism
