Environmental: Sustainable Mine Water Management and Treatment for Effective Reclamation and Closure | Room 255A
Saturated rock fill (SRF) technology is a robust and sustainable approach to reduce selenate in coal mine water to sorbed selenite and/or insoluble elemental selenium using native bacteria. Mineralogical analyses of selenium in biomineralized samples recovered from the full-scale EVR Elkview Coal Mine SRF trial identified selenite strongly sorbed to ferrihydrite and reduced SenSn-8 minerals. Selenium was not remobilized from batch tests after nutrient amendment was stopped or from columns held static at neutral pH, low oxygen, and reduced conditions for 5 years with intermittent flow to mimic post-closure SRF conditions. Selenium adsorption-desorption experiments indicated selenite was strongly sorbed to ferrihydrite in coal mine rock with minimal desorption. Results suggest that selenium in SRF treatment reactors will likely be very stable and unlikely to negatively affect surface water or groundwater post closure.
Authors
- Shannon Shaw | SRK Consulting Vancouver
- L. Kirk | Enviromin, a division of RESPEC, Bozeman, MT
- S. Das | Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
- P. Blanchard | Canadian Light Source, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
- B. Peyton | Chemical and Biological Engineering, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
Click here to view all presentations.
