The Metal And Sulphate Removal From Mine Drainage Waters By Biological-Chemical Ways

Abstract

Mine drainage waters are often characterized by high concentrations of sulphates and metals as a consequence of the mining industry of sulphide minerals. The aims of this work are to prove some biological-chemical processes utilization for the mine drainage water treatment. The studied principles of contamination elimination from these waters include sulphate reduction and metal bioprecipitation by the application of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Other studied process was metal sorption by prepared biogenic sorbent. Mine drainage waters from Slovak localities Banská Štiavnica and Smolník were used to the pollution removal examination. In Banská Štiavnica water, sulphates decreased below the legislative limit. The elimination of zinc by sorption experiments achieved 84 % and 65 %, respectively.