Optimization of nanofiltration for treatment of acid mine drainage and copper recovery by solvent extraction

Abstract

The high levels of metals and sulfate ions in acid mine drainage (AMD) constitutes a severe risk to the environment. Our study evaluated at pilot-scale the operational conditions of actual AMD nanofiltration (NF) to recover water and subsequent recovery of copper from the concentrated retentate solution by a solvent extraction (SX) process. NF showed a high copper concentration capacity (0.6 to 2.4 g/L) and good total rejection of species (~82%). While NF treatment allowed a high water recovery of 80%, the polarization resistance could limit its performance. A 1.1 g/L copper retentate solution was selected for use in the SX study to prevent membrane fouling in a possible in-series process (NF-SX). Equilibrium isotherms and McCabe-Thiele diagrams obtained using LIX 84-IC as the extractant indicated that using two countercurrent extraction stages and one stripping stage, it could be recovered 97% of the copper. The use of antiscalants and CaSO4 precipitates formed during NF had a negligible effect on the copper extraction yield by SX. The combined NF-SX results showed that a high recovery of water and copper from AMD is possible. This technology can have an impact on the reduction of freshwater consumption and wastewater treatment costs of mining, and its development is the subject of further research work.