Abstract
A small pilot plant has been built and operated to study the treatment of a mine drainage water of bicarbonate type to render it suitable for use as boiler feed make-up or disposal. To avoid the need for excessive dosing with acid, pre-softening of the feed by ion exchange was adopted and a range of types of RO membranes comprising tubular, spiral-wrap and hollow-fine fibre geometries was tested. Best results were obtained with thin-film composite type membranes, salt rejection of over 99% being obtained in single-pass operation with re-cycle of concentrate. The preferred process also makes possible the recovery of soda ash from the minewater, after thermal concentration.
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