Investigation of the mechanics of mine acid formation in underground coal mine drainage. Open file report May 78-Jul 82

Technical Report · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982

OSTI ID:5573614

Walsh, F M

The objective of this program was to determine by laboratory experiments the kinetics and mechanics of the reactions that produce acid in coal mine drainage. The program was divided into three phases: In Phase I, five coal mines, representative of Appalachian coal mines, were chosen for sampling and an experimental design was identified suited to accomplish the program objectives. In Phase II, the five mines were sampled and test protocols applied. The results showed most pyrite weathering to be based on oxidation in the presence of water. Iron bacteria, especially Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, catalyzed the rate of pyrite weathering by a factor of three. An increase in initial iron concentration in a system that modeled the mine environment acted to inhibit bacterial catalysis of weathering. In Phase III, five tailings piles were sampled and the material obtained was used to evaluate this method of bacterial catalysis inhibition. The evaluation verified method effectiveness; inhibition of over 80% of the release of weathering products was observed.

• Research Organization: ECO, Inc., Cambridge, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5573614
• Report Number(s): PB-83-233387
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
PYRITE
OXIDATION
WEATHERING
UNDERGROUND MINING
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
ACIDIFICATION
BACTERIA
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CATALYSIS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL MINES
REACTION KINETICS
SAMPLING
TAILINGS
WATER POLLUTION
WATERSHEDS
CHALCOGENIDES
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
KINETICS
MICROORGANISMS
MINERALS
MINES
MINING
POLLUTION
SOLID WASTES
SULFIDE MINERALS
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WASTES
012000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Mining
010900 - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Environmental Aspects
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)