Antimony-complexed heavy metal wastewater in antimony mining areas: Source, risk and treatment

Antimony mining areas generate a large amount of wastewater containing complex heavy metals, which poses a threat to the health of residents and surrounding flora and fauna, and disrupts the ecological balance. Therefore, it is necessary to find more effective means of treatment. By reviewing the formation, risks, and treatment methods of wastewater in antimony mining areas, the main sources and pathways of heavy metal ions were analyzed. A detailed discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of several treatment technologies was conducted, and the suitability of different methods was evaluated, along with future prospects. It was found that the wastewater mainly originates from mining, smelting, and surrounding industrial activities in the mining area. Animals are more effective in the migration of heavy metals and pose greater risks compared to plants. Among various methods, adsorption and neutralization- precipitation methods are more economically viable for application in mining areas. However, they still fail to meet the requirements for efficient treatment in anaerobic environments. By applying the principle of complementary advantages and optimizing commonly used reactors, a novel composite adsorbent based on the central perforated layering adsorption concept was proposed. This composite adsorbent enables the se-quential removal of pollutants from wastewater in antimony mining areas, and in-depth investigations into the adsorption mechanisms were conducted. Furthermore, prospects were given for the development of more efficient adsorbents. It is predicted that layered adsorption technology will be a major direction of future research.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).