The overall objective of this project is to develop and examine a novel process to prevent the acid mine drainage formation from its source by inhibiting pyrite oxidation using environmentally…

The overall objective of this project is to develop and examine a novel process to prevent the acid mine drainage formation from its source by inhibiting pyrite oxidation using environmentally benign food waste compost material. The treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) is one of the biggest problems in mining environmental remediation processes due to its large quantity, long formation time, unpredicted reactions and noncentralized locations. The typical method of treating AMD prior to discharge from a mine site is to add a caustic solution or pass through alkaline rock beds to induce precipitation of the dissolved metal ions and neutralization of the acidity. Some innovative methods of treatments have been developed in the past decades including coagulation sedimentation, chemically oxidation, biological passive treatment, nanoparticle adsorptions, and membrane technology etc. However, due to the high costs of these methods and the possible secondary pollution problem, the traditional neutralization treatment of AMD is still widely used. IT is necessary to change the way of thinking and develop at source technologies to inhibit or even eliminate the formation of acidic mine water. The root cause of acidic mine water is the oxidation of pyrite in the mine tailings that exposed to air during mining through a series of biotic and abiotic process. The key factors that resulted in the pyrite oxidation in the mine tailing is water content, oxygen (air) content, and the microbial activities (mainly acidthiobacillus ferrooxidans). Study shows that the adsorption of humic acid on pyrite surface is almost irreversible, and the pyrite electrochemical activity can be practically inhibited. The project proposed to use food waste compost material as a filler in the pyrite containing mine tailings to inhibit the pyrite oxidation process. The compost material contains humic substance that can react with pyrite and create a passivation layer on the particle surface. The compost material also provides a barrier to water and air as the soil contains numerous microbial organisms. The scope of work proposed in this study will include construction of several leaching columns for evaluating the acid generation capability of mine tailing material at various aeration rate, intermittent water flowrate, and temperature to simulate the seasonal mine tailing storage conditions.a prediction model will also be developed for acid mine drainage formation and heavy metal release analysis based on various mineralogy composition in mine tailings. Pyrite oxidation rate with presence of harmless organic acids will be evaluated. Major, trace and toxic elements from the mine waste release and mitigation will be monitored. The impact of the proposed study on mine waste remediation, environmental sustainability, self purification capability, and water quality improvement will be evaluated to provide an indication for regulations on mine waste treatment and mine reclamation.alliance coal showed great interest in this research and agreed to provide access to their coarse and fine refuse samples that were previously determined to be the major pyrite containing streams. Food waste compost material obtained from the university of kentucky organics and food waste diversion program will be used as the test subject to inhibit the pyrite oxidation.upon approval of the grant transfer, the field coal refuse samples and the compost material will be shipped to the university of utah to continue the test work proposed in work plan. The originally proposed scope of work will not be changed.