The development of an efficient precipitation-flotation-dewatering (PFD) process for acid mine drainage treatment

Acid mine drainage (AMD) stands as a prevalent environmental challenge across numerous mining sites, often addressed through the high-density sludge (HDS) process, a typical neutralization and sedimentation process. However, despite its widespread use, the HDS process requires prolonged treatment durations and presents challenges in sludge dewatering and site relocation, thus falling short of an optimal solution. In this study, an efficient precipitation-flotation-dewatering (PFD) process was developed and optimized as a viable alternative to the HDS process, offering efficient AMD treatment. The experimental results indicate that over 90 % of ions were successfully precipitated by employing CaO as a neutralizing agent to adjust AMD pH to 10.0. Flotation was then conducted with a low-profile flotation column after adding an optimal concentration of 10 mg/L of A-100 flocculant and 400 mg/L of NaOL. Compared with original AMD, the final removal of toxic and hazardous ions of Fe, Al, Cd, Sn, Co, Ni, Zn, and Mn were 97.61 %, 98.85 %, 98.21 %, 97.78 %, 97.22 %, 99.34 %, 99.89 %, and 99.14 %, respectively. Additionally, the solid content of produced sludge was 27 %. Mechanistic inquiries revealed that A-100 and NaOL both chemically adsorbed on the particle surface and respectively enhanced the collision and attachment probabilities between precipitate particles and bubbles, thereby augmenting the separation efficiency. Furthermore, shortening the flotation column reduced the particle flotation path, thereby improving the flotation efficiency. The efficient PFD process exhibits significant advantages of rapid and effective AMD treatment, high sludge solid content, small footprint, and high relocatable convenience, demonstrating satisfactory cost effectiveness and significant potential as a replacement of the HDS process for AMD treatment.