Removal of ammonium and nitrate ions from mine effluents by membrane technology

Journal Article · Mon Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 1994 · Separation Science and Technology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/01496399408002157· OSTI ID:7302657

Awadalla, F T; Striez, C; Lamb, K ^[1]

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1. Inst. for Environmental Chemistry, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)

Ammonium and nitrate ions could be removed from synthetic and actual mine effluents by using nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. RO membranes were found more effective in removing these ions (>99% for NH[sub 4][sup +] and about 97% for NO[sup [minus]][sub 3]) than NF membranes (about 66% for NH[sup +][sub 4] and about 43% for NO[sup [minus]][sub 3]). Removal of ammonia from synthetic solutions containing only ammonia and water by both NF and RO membranes was found to be very low (10-30%), indicating that ammonia in mining effluents existed not as free ammonia but as ammonium salt complexes. Ammonia separation by membranes assures the production of quality water suitable for recycling in mining operations since the other metal ions and anions, such as Ca and SO[sub 4], were also retained in the concentrate. It may be feasible to further process the concentrated product containing appreciable amounts of nitrate and sulfur ions to produce ammonium compounds as fertilizer. During the test, no operating problems were observed such as fouling or scaling. The membrane performance was not affected at the end of the test as proved by NaCl separation before and after the ammonia run. 18 refs., 3 figs., 6 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 7302657
• Journal Information: Separation Science and Technology; (United States), Journal Name: Separation Science and Technology; (United States) Vol. 29:4; ISSN 0149-6395; ISSN SSTEDS
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320305 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Industrial & Agricultural Processes-- Industrial Waste Management
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105* -- Separation Procedures
42 ENGINEERING
422000 -- Engineering-- Mining & Underground Engineering-- (1980-)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540320 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM COMPLEXES
AMMONIUM COMPOUNDS
AMMONIUM SULFATES
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
CHLORIDES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
COMPLEXES
DATA
DIFFUSION
DISPERSIONS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FERTILIZERS
FILTRATION
FOULING
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
IRON COMPOUNDS
IRON SULFATES
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MEMBRANE TRANSPORT
MEMBRANES
MINES
MIXTURES
NITRATES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUMERICAL DATA
OSMOSIS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PERMEABILITY
PROCESSING
RECYCLING
REMOVAL
SCALING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SODIUM CHLORIDES
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SOLUTIONS
SULFATES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
ULTRAFILTRATION
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
WATER
WATER QUALITY