Joint Finnish-Russian wastewater study published
In the SEESIMA project collaboration was established between researchers at University of Oulu and the Kola Science Centre to study the treatment of mining wastewater. Absorbents produced from natural materials such as peat were modified to improve their performance, and tested for their efficiency at removing different heavy metals and sulphate under different conditions, such as acidity.
The work has recently been reported in a joint article: “Removal of sulfate and metals from wastewater of a mining enterprise by a dual sorbent system: a case study”. The authors were Eugenia Krasavtseva, Harshita Gogoi, Antion Svetlov, Tiina Leiviskä and Dmitriy Makarov.
The graph above shows the reduction in the strontium concentration achieved by the brucite (magnesium hydroxide) sorbent at different pre-treatment temperatures and ph levels. Before using the brucite sorbent the wastewater was treated with a modified peat sorbent to remove sulfate. The graph above shows a better removal efficiency at high pH, underlining the advantage of firstly removing sulfate in the dual-sorbent system. The article can be viewed and downloaded at the Mine Water and the Environment Journal.