Biological Oxidation and Removal of Iron in Copper-Containing Acidic Mine Drainage by Using Siliceous Stones as Carrier Materials

Abstract

Acid mine drainage is detrimental to the environment, which is rich of a variety of heavy metals, and has a low pH value and high acidity. The purpose of this paper is to study the bio-oxidation of ferrous iron and the selective precipitation of ferric iron, to gain a long-term effective solution to the environmental problem. The maximum ferrous iron bio-oxidation rate (76.19mg/L·h) was obtained at a low pH value of 3.0 and culture temperature of 30°C. In addition, we found a relatively higher ferric iron removal rate (99.18%) and the lowest copper loss rate (4.59%) at a pH value of 3.2 and reaction temperature of 30°C and stirring time of 4h.