Treatment of Manganese from Mining Seep Using Packed Columns

Abstract

A manganese‐laden seep from a reclaimed strip‐mined area in north Alabama was successfully treated on a small‐scale basis using packed column technology. Manganese concentrations were reduced from about 10 mg/L to below 2 mg/L to meet Alabama discharge standards. The process looks very promising as a new manganese treatment method. The three columns developed during this research used chert, sandstone, and glass marbles as packing material. The olumns were either four or six feet tall and hydraulically loaded at about 5.4m3/secper100,000M2. The mass loading with a dissolved manganese concentration of 9 mg/L was about 0.24 mg/min. The pH of the seep water ranged from 5.8 to 6.3. The columns were operated in a submerged, upflowing manner at temperatures between 20° and 30 °C. The acclimation of the columns required eight weeks using seed from a river having manganese oxidizing slimes on the stream‐bed stones.