Analysis of shake flask experiments results conducted on residues from hydrometallurgical processes

Hydrometallurgical facilities processing sulfide based ores produce waste residues in the form of sludges that contain concentrations of metals, as well as metal sulfides. As a part of the waste characterization and risk assessment process, a statistical design of experiment was used to assess the significant factors and interactions in the residue leaching process. Two shake flask experiments, a 2⁴ factorial design and 2³ central composite design were employed to evaluate the effect of mixing time, test pH, solid/liquid ratio and residue type on acidity, alkalinity, sulfate and metal concentration and pH of the resulting filtered leachate. The results indicate that the variable tested mixing time and solid/liquid ratio most strongly affect metal concentration in the filtrate from waste residue samples tested over a moderate test pH range. When tests were conducted over a longer test period and at lower test pH values, test pH and residue type were dominant factors contributing to residue filtrate metal concentration.     

Arsenic mobility in weathered gold mine tailings under a low-organic soil cover

Historical gold mining operations in Nova Scotia, Canada, resulted in numerous deposits of publicly accessible, arsenic (As)-rich mine waste that has weathered in situ for 75–150 years, resulting in a wide range of As-bearing secondary minerals. The geochemical heterogeneity of this mine waste creates a challenge for identifying a single remediation approach that will limit As mobility. A 30-cm-thick, low-organic content soil cover was evaluated in a laboratory leaching experiment where, to simulate natural conditions, the equivalent of 2 years of synthetic rainwater was leached through each column and two dry seasons were incorporated into the leaching protocol. Each column was a stratigraphic representation of the four major tailings types found at the historical Montague and Goldenville gold mine districts: hardpan tailings, oxic tailings, wetland tailings, and high Ca tailings. Hardpan tailings released acidic, As-rich waters (max 12 mg/L) under the soil cover but this acidity was buffered by surrounding oxic tailings. Leachate from the oxic tailings was circumneutral, with average As concentrations between 4.4 and 9.7 mg/L throughout the experiment. The presence of carbonates in the high Ca tailings resulted in near-neutral to weakly alkaline leachate pH values and average As concentrations between 2.1 and 6.1 mg/L. Oxidation of sulfides in the wetland tailings led to acidic leachate over time and a decrease in As concentrations to values that were generally less than 1 mg/L. This study shows that the use of a low-organic content soil cover does not create reducing conditions that would destabilize oxidized, As-bearing secondary phases in these tailings. However, oxygen penetration through the cover during dry seasons would continue to release As to tailings pore waters via sulfide oxidation reactions.     

Two in one leachate plume in a karstic aquifer

Some sites formerly used for waste disposal purposes, even if they are closed, continue generating leachate that seeps into the ground and contaminates groundwater in the area where they are located. It is believed that the rainfall being in contact with waste becomes a source of leachate. This fluid seeps into the aquifer and may identify sources of pollution. A modeling work which determined the migration times of solutes in the karstic aquifer of Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, is presented. Both existing and generated information was analyzed; a leachate plume was identified. The methodology used in the study is described, the application of which allowed concluding that this plume was generated from two sources: a waste disposal site and the oxidation lagoons located next to it. The procedure consisted of performing simulations considering the sources that contribute to the development of the pollution plume and forecasting their behavior. With the developed methodology, similar cases can be analyzed to avoid locating catchment zones of drinking water in inappropriate places and/or develop projects to place waste disposal sites that could affect existing catchment areas and to preserve this resource, essential for life.     

Deterioration of groundwater quality in the vicinity of an active open-tipping site in West Malaysia

There is an urgent need for characterization of leachate arising from waste disposal to ensure a corresponding effective leachate management policy. Field and laboratory studies have been carried out to investigate the impact of municipal landfill leachate on the underlying groundwater at a site in West Malaysia. The solid waste was disposed of directly onto an unprotected natural soil formation. This situation was made worse by the shallow water table. The hydrochemical composition of groundwater in the vicinity of the site (background) is a dilute mixed cation, bicarbonate water. The high ionic balance error of ~13.5% reveals that the groundwater body underneath the site was a highly contaminated leachate rather than contaminated groundwater. Elevated concentration of chloride (355.48 mg/L), nitrate (10.40 mg/L as NO₃), nitrite (14.59 mg/L), ammoniacal-N (11.61 mg/L), sodium (227.56 mg/L), iron (0.97 mg/L), and lead (0.32 mg/L) measured downgradient indicate that the contamination plume has migrated further away from the site. In most cases, the concentration of these contamination indicators, together with the ranges of sodium percentage (66.3–89.9%) and sodium adsorption ratio (10.1–19.7%), were found to be considerably higher than the limit values of safe water for both domestic and irrigation purposes, respectively.     

Effect of leachate loading rate and incubation period on the treatment efficiency by T. versicolor immobilized on foam cubes

This study focuses on treatment of landfill leachate in column experiments by immobilized Trametes versicolor on polyurethane foam, collected from Nonthaburi landfill site, Thailand. In this study, glucose was used as a co-substrate. The effect of biomass growth on color removal was observed by immobilizing fungi on polyurethane foam. The same immobilized fungi were used for four cycles of 5 days each to find the reuse of fungi. Leachate was diluted to see the effect of organic loading on color removal. At optimum pH of 4 and in 20 days with 3 g/L of glucose, the fungi could decolorize 78 % and 63 % for 5-times dilution and concentrated leachate, respectively, using immobilized fungi after 4 days initial growth. Fungi could also reduce biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand of 52 % and 42 % (with initial biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand of 48,900 and 96,512 mg/L), respectively, with glucose 3 g/L in concentrate leachate and with 4 days initial immobilization of fungi on polyurethane foam. About 1–6% higher color removal was observed on day 20 with 15 days fungi immobilization initially as compared to 4 days immobilization. Higher removal efficiency was observed for the same leachate after dilution due to reduction in organic loading. Addition of co-substrate enhances significantly removal of color, biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. Chemical oxygen demand removal reached to 0.6 mg/mg of biomass with the co-substrate. Therefore, white rot fungi can be considered as potentially useful microorganisms in landfill leachate treatment.     

Temporal changes in leachate chemistry of a municipal solid waste landfill cell in Florida,USA

Evaluation of 12 years of landfill leachate chemical data from a lined cell of municipal waste in south Florida, USA shows an overall declining trend in major ion chemistry. The leachate is dominantly Cl, Na, HCO₃ and organic solutes. There are significant short-term variations in concentration that appear to be related to rainfall, rather than fundamental changes to leachate composition. Inorganic parameters related to pH, such as alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium appear to be chemically buffered. Chromium, cobalt, vanadium, zinc, and the metalloid boron display significant short-term co-variance with a decreasing trend. Iron and manganese concentrations increased significantly after capping. Based on the predominance of ammonia, historic methane generation, and increasing trends for iron and manganese after closure, the landfill cell has an anaerobic (reducing) interior environment. The reducing conditions were enhanced by capping and caused the most redox sensitive metals (manganese and iron) to become more mobile.     

Optimization of sono-assisted dilute sulfuric acid process for simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification of rice straw

In this study, sono-assisted dilute sulfuric acid process was evaluated for its viability of simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification of rice straw. Three critical factors for simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification process, such as sonication time (30–50 min), temperature (70–90 °C), and acid concentration (5–10 %), were optimized to maximize reducing sugar yield using Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology. The response surface methodology model was found to be adequately fitted to the obtained data. Simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification factors were optimized at sonication of 50 min, 80 °C and an acid concentration of 10 % yielding the maximum sugar content (31.78 g/100 g of biomass). Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the smooth surface of raw biomass was altered into a rough and porous surface as a result of sugar release, which showed the prospective feasibility of simultaneous pretreatment and saccharification process. This process integration may lead to develop economical bioethanol production facility. However, further research is required to make this process industrially viable.     

Emissions from mechanically biologically treated waste landfills at field scale

Modern waste management tends towards greater sustainability in landfilling, with the implementation of strategies such as the pretreatment of solid waste. This work assesses the behaviour of rejects from a refining stage of mechanically biologically treated municipal solid waste at the landfill. The main results of 18 months’ monitoring of an experimental pilot cell with waste from a full-scale plant are presented. This first stage is expected to be the most problematic period for this type of waste. The evolution of the temperature and the composition of leachate and gas at various points within the cell are included. During the first weeks, pollutant concentrations in the leachate exceeded the reference ranges in the literature, coinciding with a rapid onset of methanogenic conditions. However, there was a quick wash, reducing concentrations to below one-third of the initial values before the first year. pH values influenced concentrations of some pollutants such as copper. These results indicate that, right from the beginning of disposal, such facilities should be prepared to treat a high pollution load in the leachate and install the gas emissions control elements due to the rapid onset of methanogenesis.     

Environmental importance of rhamnolipid production from molasses as a carbon source

Rhamnolipid has been known as biosurfactant which is produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in fermentation process. Several carbon sources such as ethanol, glucose, vegetable oil and hydrocarbon have been used to produce rhamnolipid. In this study, we are trying to use molasses which is a waste product from sugar industry as carbon source to produce rhamnolipid. The bacterium which was previously isolated from Iranian oil over years Glycolipid production by isolated bacterium using sugar beet molasses as a carbon and energy source was investigated. Result from the study showed that the growth of the bacteria using molasses as carbon sources is growth-associated. The specific production rate of rhamnolipid with 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% of molasses are 0.00065, 4.556, 8.94, 8.85, and 9.09 respectively. The yield of rhamnolipid per biomass with 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% molasses are 0.003, 0.009, 0.053, 0.041 and 0.213 respectively. The production of rhamnolipid (0.0531 g. rhamnolipid/g biomass) is higher compare to the culture grown in aerobic condition (0.04 g. rhamnolipid/g biomass). These studies indicate that renewable, relatively inexpensive and easily available resources can be used for important biotechnological processes.     

Using an integrated method for the determination of environmental TCLP arsenic for sulphide-rich mine tailing remediation in Ghana,West Africa

Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) is a versatile short-term leaching protocol used to estimate the release of toxic metals from waste prior to disposal to a repository. This paper uses the integrated TCLP leachate data from tailings, tailings dam monitoring borehole data, and acidity ratio (AR) range of sulphide-rich ores to simulate the environmental TCLP As in tailings at the AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi mine in Ghana. The aim was to incorporate long-term leaching characteristics of tailings to minimise the risk of TCLP As test failure. The mean As concentration and pH value are 2.26 mg/l and 5.7 in TCLP leachate, 0.35 mg/l and 6.7 in monitoring boreholes, and?<?0.01 mg/l and 5.7 in control boreholes, respectively. The evaluation of the TCLP As data using a one-sample t test performed at 80% confidence interval has the upper confidence limit (UCL) of 2.41 mg/l; this value which constitutes the short-term characterised environmental TCLP As is below the USEPA criterion of 5 mg/l and, therefore, qualifies the waste as safe for disposal. Alternatively, TCLP leachate, borehole and AR data were integrated to simulate the long-term environmental TCLP As of 2.40 mg/l and pH value of 5.7, and As concentration and pH value of 0.01 mg/l and 6.7 in monitoring boreholes, respectively. Such laboratory simulations of TCLP As leaching aimed at achieving 0.01 mg/l in field monitoring data would provide a more robust predictive value for environmental management decision making due to long-term considerations.     

Removal of phosphates from aqueous solution by sepiolite-nano zero valent iron composite optimization with response surface methodology

In this study, sepiolite-nano zero valent iron composite was synthesized and applied for its potential adsorption to remove phosphates from aqueous solution. This composite was characterized by different techniques. For optimization of independent parameters (pH = 3–9; initial phosphate concentration = 5–100 mg/L; adsorbent dosage = 0.2–1 g/L; and contact time = 5–100 min), response surface methodology based on central composite design was used. Adsorption isotherms and kinetic models were done under optimum conditions. The results indicated that maximum adsorption efficiency of 99.43 and 92% for synthetic solution and real surface water sample, respectively, were achieved at optimum conditions of pH 4.5, initial phosphate concentration of 25 mg/L, adsorbent dosage of 0.8 g/L, and 46.26 min contact time. The interaction between adsorbent and adsorbate is better described with the Freundlich isotherm (R ² = 0.9537), and the kinetic of adsorption process followed pseudo-second-order model. Electrostatic interaction was the major mechanisms of the removal of phosphates from aqueous solution. The findings of this study showed that there is an effective adsorbent for removal of phosphates from aqueous solutions.     

Adsorption study on municipal solid waste leachate using <Emphasis Type="Italic">Moringa oleifera</Emphasis> seed

Effects of initial concentrations of Moringa oleifera seed coagulant for removing Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Dissolved Solids from municipal solid waste leachate have been evaluated at an optimum pH of 7 and temperature of 318 K. The kinetic data obtained from the experiments were fitted to the pseudo first-order, pseudo second-order, Elovich and intraparticle diffusion models. Based on a regression coefficient (R ²), the equilibrium (kinetic) data were best fitted with the Elovich model (R ² = 0.993 for Chemical Oxygen Demand and R ² = 0.996 for Total Dissolved Solids) than that of other models. The results of the kinetic models study indicated that the adsorption capacity of M. oleifera seed as a coagulant for removing Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Dissolved Solids in a leachate increased up to 100 mg L^?1, beyond which the adsorption capacity got reduced. Finally, the present study concluded that M. oleifera seed coagulant could be employed effectively for the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand and Total Dissolved Solids in a municipal solid waste leachate.     

Microbiological degradation of phenol using two co-aggregating bacterial strains

Phenol biodegradation in an aerobic batch reactor was investigated using mixed two co-aggregating strains (Flavobacterium sp. and Acetobacter sp.). Response surface methodology by the Box–Behnken model was used to evaluate the optimal cell growth and phenol degradation conditions. The optimum temperature, pH value and inoculum size were found to be 33 °C, 6.06 and 13 %, respectively. In the conditions, phenol degradation rate and biomass were predicted to be 96.97 % and 410.78 mg/L within the range examined, respectively. Less toxic acetaldehyde, ethanol and acetic ether were identified as main intermediate products from the degraded samples using GC–MS. Substrate inhibition was calculated from experimental biomass growth and phenol degradation parameters using the Haldane equation. Kinetic parameters derived from nonlinear regression with correlation factors (R ²) were 0.9682 for phenol degradation and 0.9594 for biomass growth, respectively. The phenol concentration to avoid substrate inhibition was 278.17 mg/L.     

Influence of operating parameters on treatment of egg processing effluent by electrocoagulation process

The treatment of egg processing effluent was investigated in a batch electrocoagulation reactor using aluminum as sacrificial electrodes. The influence of operating parameters such as electrode distance, stirring speed, electrolyte concentration, pH, current density and electrolysis time on percentage turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand removal were analyzed. From the experimental results, 3-cm electrode distance, 150 rpm, 1.5 g/l sodium chloride, pH of 6, 20 mA/cm² current density, and 30-min electrolysis time were found to be optimum for maximum removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand. The removal of turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand under the optimum condition was found to be 96, 89 and 84 %, respectively. The energy consumption was varied from 7.91 to 27.16 kWh/m³, and operating cost was varied from 1.36 to 4.25 US $/m³ depending on the operating conditions. Response surface methodology has been employed to evaluate the individual and interactive effects of four independent parameters such as electrolyte concentration (0.5–2.5 g/l), initial pH (4–8), current density (10–30 mA/cm²) and electrolysis time (10–50 min) on turbidity, chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand removal. The results have been analyzed using Pareto analysis of variance to predict the responses. Based on the analysis, second-order polynomial mathematical models were developed and found to be good fit with the experimental data.     

Field scale remediation of mine wastes at an abandoned gold mine,Australia II: Effects on plant growth and groundwater

This second paper reports the results of plant growth, plant mortality, plant leaf tissue metal and salt concentrations and leachate quality monitoring from lysimeters in four large field trial treatments established on sulfidic waste rock/soil that was used for haul road construction at a closed gold mine in Australia. The TerraB™, lime and clay treatments allowed good tree growth of four Eucalypt species, compared to the control. There was no statistical difference in tree growth between the TerraB™, lime or clay treatments over the 2 years of monitoring in this paper. However, the growth of one tree species was poor in the TerraB™ treatment. Leaf tissue metal and major ion data are also presented. Leachate pH in the control became increasingly acidic (pH 4.57–3.95). The addition of Ca(OH)₂ and biosolids led to an initial increase in leachate pH, compared to the control; however, this has decreased over the duration of the study (pH 5.37–4.89) and may affect the sustainable growth of plants in the future. In the TerraB™ and biosolids treatment leachate pH increased to 6.92 after the first rainfall event and continued to increase over the duration of the study to pH 7.4 after 24 months. After 24 months average heavy metal leachate concentrations (mg/L) in the lysimeters for Al, Cd, Cu, Mn and Zn were, control: 32.55, 5.67, 12.71, 39.29, 121.80, TerraB™: 0.07, 0.02, 0.07, 0.57, 0.23, and lime: 2.19, 1.19, 2.33, 3.6, 28.4. No leachate was available for collection from the clay treatment indicating that this technique was functioning in terms of minimizing the infiltration of water into the mine soil.     

Production of rhamnolipids by Pseudomonas aeruginosa growing on carbon sources

Arhamnolipid producing bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was previously isolated from Iranian oil over years. Isolated strain was identified by morphological, biochemical, physiological and 16 sr RNA (1). Glycolipid production by isolated bacterium using sugar beet molasses as a carbon and energy source was investigated. Biosurfactant production was quantified by surface tension reduction, Critical Micelle Dilution (CMD), Emulsification Capacity (EC), and Thin Layer Chromatogeraphy. biosurfactants during growth on waste Dates as the primary carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. After 48 h of growth the culture supernatant fluid had a rhamnose concentration of 0.18 g/L and surface tension was reduced to 20 mN/m ( %).( reduced the interfacial tension against crude oil from 21 mN/m to 0,47 mN/m) Result from the study showed that the growth of the bacteria using molasses as carbon sources is growth-associated. The specific production rate of rhamnolipid with 2 %, 4 %, 6 %, 8 % and 10 % of molasses are 0.00065; 4.556; 8.94; 8.85; and 9.09. respectively The yield of rhamnolipid per biomass with 2%,4%,6%,8% and 10% molasses are 0.003;0.009;0.053;0.041 and 0.213 respectively. The production of rhamnolipid (0.0531 g rhamnolipid/g biomass) is higher compare to the culture grown in aerobic condition (0.04 g rhamnolipid/g biomass).The rhamnolipids were able to form stable emulsions with n-alkanes, aromatics, crude oil and olive oil. These studies indicate that renewable, relatively inexpensive and easily available resources can be used for important biotechnological processes.     

Co-management of landfill leachate concentrate with brick waste by solidification/stabilization treatment

The treatment of landfill leachate by reverse osmosis (RO) generates huge volumes of heavily polluted concentrate that has to be properly treated before its discharge into the environment. The aim of this work was to assess the solidification/stabilization (S/S) treatment of the leachate concentrate (LC) for chemical/physical immobilization of contaminants and for obtaining durable monolithic matrix suitable for storage, landfilling, or use. In addition, the possible use of brick waste as a partial replacement of natural aggregates used for S/S process was investigated. Concrete mixtures were prepared using local PC, sand, gravel, and tap water/LC. The substitution of coarse aggregate material by brick waste was examined for the replacement ratios 25, 50, and 75%. Hardened concrete specimens were subject to compressive test as well as flexural strength test at 7 and 28 days. Besides, a leaching test was performed, and the collected eluates were analyzed for pH, total dissolved solids, chemical oxygen demand, chlorides, sulfates, phosphorus, and heavy metals. The aggregate replacement with brick waste showed various trends according to the substituted fraction size and ratio. A 28-day compressive strength of more than 25 MPa was obtained even at 50% simultaneous substitution of PC, gravel, and sand. Leaching test analysis confirmed that S/S could be a successful treatment for RO LC decreasing most of the pollutants to comply with landfilling criteria, except for chromium known to be mobile at high pH. Furthermore, the substitution of natural aggregates with brick waste revealed the possibility to cast valuable masonry units. However, a long-term assessment is still needed to ensure the mechanical and chemical stability/durability of concrete.     

Optimization of parameters using response surface methodology and genetic algorithm for biological denitrification of wastewater

In the present study the removal of nitrates from wastewater using Pseudomonas stutzeri microorganism in a Gas–Liquid–Solid bioreactor at the concentration of 200 ppm was studied for a period of 12 h. The response surface methodology with the help of central composite design and genetic algorithm were employed to optimize the process parameters such as airflow rate, biofilm carrier, carbon source, temperature and pH which are responsible for the removal of nitrates. The optimized values of parameters found from RSM are airflow rate 2.41 lpm, biofilm carrier 15.15 g/L, carbon source 85.0 mg/L, temperature 29.74 °C, pH 7.47 and nitrate removal 193.16. The optimized parameters obtained from genetic algorithm are airflow rate 2.42 lpm, biofilm carrier 15.25 g/L, carbon source 84.98 mg/L, temperature 29.61 °C, pH 7.51 and nitrate removal is 194.14. The value of R² > 0.9831 obtained for the present mathematical model indicates the high correlation between observed and predicted values. The optimal values for nitrate removal at 200 ppm are suggested according to genetic algorithm and at these optimized parameters more than 96 % of nitrate removal was estimated, which meets the standards for drinking water.     

Optimization of ammonia removal by ion-exchange resin using response surface methodology

The ability of ion-exchange resin for ammonia removal from aqueous solution was studied. The results showed that Amberlite ion-exchange resin was effective in removing ammonia from aqueous solution. Factorial design and response surface methodology were applied to evaluate and optimize the effects of pH, resin dose, contact time, temperature and initial ammonia concentration. Low pH condition was preferred with the optimum pH found to be 6. High resin dose generated high removal rate and low exchange capacity. Results of factorial design and response surface methodology showed that temperature was not a significant parameter. The model prediction was in good agreement with observed data (R ² = 0.957). The optimum Q _e was 28.78 mg/g achieved at pH = 6 and initial TAN concentration of 3000 mg/L. The kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R ² = 0.999). Equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models with Langmuir model providing a slightly better predication (R ² = 0.996). The resin was completely regenerated by 2 N H₂SO₄.     

填埋场防渗衬垫等效替代研究

从污染控制的角度出发,提出了垃圾填埋场底部防渗衬垫的等效性原则,在此基础上提出“替代”衬垫的设计方法,并利用压实黄土底衬作为实例进行了说明。研究结果表明,穿透衬垫的污染物累积量可以作为设计替代底衬的主要依据。