Abstract
Vertical flow bioreactors (VFBR) are often used as a component of passive treatment systems (PTS) to treat mine drainage. One of the primary purposes of VFBR is to remove trace metals from mine drainage and retain them in the organic substrate. Elevated ionic strength may impact the performance of VFBR and affect their ability to remove trace metals. A paired-comparison study was performed to determine how products of trace metal removal may change when ionic strength is elevated due to increased concentrations of common contributors to TDS, specifically sodium and sulfate. A sequential extraction procedure (SEP) and acid-volatile sulfide/simultaneously extracted metals analyses (AVS/SEM) were used to determine dominant Cd, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn removal products in bench-scale VFBR. Elevated ionic strength resulted in more Pb being retained in the substrates as an insoluble sulfide and less Mn being removed via adsorption to the substrates. An increase in ionic strength had a greater impact on adsorption when sulfate reduction was inhibited, with percentages of Mn and Zn removed via this mechanism decreasing by at least half. This finding could be particularly significant at the start of VFBR operation when adsorption is expected to be the primary removal mechanism.
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