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Removal of heavy metal ions from acid mine water by ferrite coprecipitation process

Conference ·
OSTI ID:78154
; ;  [1]
  1. Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)
The generation of acid mine water is due to the oxidation and weathering of sulfide bearing tailings and overburdens. Ferrite precipitation process has been applied to treat acid mine water. The conventional ferrite precipitation requires air oxidation at high temperature, or long aging time or addition of magnetite powder as promoter. In this investigation, a modified ferrite precipitation process is developed by which magnetic ferrite can be produced at an ambient temperature. Acid mine waters from Berkeley Pit (Montana, US) and from Noranda Tailings (Quebec, Canada) were used. The coprecipitation of heavy metals from these two acid mine waters is studied as a function of Fe/M molar ratio, oxidation time and settling rate under applied magnetic field. The investigation indicates that the modified ferrite coprecipitation can remove substantially all of the dissolved metal ions from acid mine water. The ferrite product obtained after precipitation is characterized by XRD, SEM, BET and saturation magnetization. The results show that spinel ferrite precipitation can be achieved at room temperature and the saturation magnetization of ferrite product from acid mine water is comparable to that of pure ferrites.
OSTI ID:
78154
Report Number(s):
CONF-950201--; ISBN 0-87339-279-5
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English