Study of the reactions between coal and coal mine drainage

Technical Report · Mon Nov 22 04:00:00 EST 1965

OSTI ID:5418049

Reese, R D; Lovell, H L

The investigation involved the potential use of finely-divided coal to remove contaminating acid and iron from coal mine drainage. The advantages of such a process would be many: A relatively simple process would be anticipated, the processing agent would be relatively inexpensive, coal is readily available where coal mine drainage exists, the process waste (coal and possibly the water impurities) would be readily disposable via normal coal markets with the recovery of calorific values having economic significance. Preliminary studies established that coal will react with coal mine drainage to increase pH, decrease acidity, and remove iron. Although it was anticipated that some response would occur between the organic phases of coal and coal mine drainage, this investigation was limited to a study of the reactions between the inorganic phases of the coal and their response to coal mine drainage waters. An attempt was made to determine the mechanism of the phenomena observed. It was established that calcium carbonate in the coal was the primary reactant with the sulfuric acid in the coal mine drainage. Some neutralization was also attributed to soluble alkalies. The iron removal was attributed to a precipitation of ferric hydroxide-ferric hydroxysulfate when the pH was raised to the range of 2.4 to 3.8 by the neutralizing reaction in the presence of coal fines. Although the use of coal to treat coal mine drainage by means of this inorganic reaction does not appear to be feasible as a general beneficiation process, it can have advantages in certain situations.

• Research Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park (USA). Dept. of Mineral Preparation
• OSTI ID: 5418049
• Report Number(s): SR-54
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
CALCIUM CARBONATES
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CARBONATES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COAL
COAL FINES
COAL MINING
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INORGANIC ACIDS
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFIDES
MANAGEMENT
MINERALS
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PARTICLE SIZE
PENNSYLVANIA
PH VALUE
PROCESSING
PYRITE
PYRITES
REMOVAL
SIZE
SORPTIVE PROPERTIES
SULFIDES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFURIC ACID
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
UNDERGROUND MINING
USA
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING