Removal of Heavy Metals Using Dolomite in Acid Mine Drainage of a Mining Environmental Liability of Hualgayoc

Authors

Colque-Leey, Melanie N.

Murrugarra-Roncal, Jheyner J.

Licapa-Redolfo, Gladys S.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate the efficiency of dolomite in the removal of Al, Cd, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn and As in acid mine drainage from mining environmental liabilities in Hualgayoc, using dolomite, it is possible to neutralize the pH and precipitate the metals present in the acid waters, so that they comply with the LMP, for which the acid mine drainage without treatment was initially characterized with initial concentrations of 0.367 mg/L of As; 0.372 mg/L of Cd, 122.3 mg/L of Fe, 0.111 mg/L of Pb and 69 mg/L of Zn and a pH of 2.69. A total of three treatments were had in two mining environmental liabilities with three replicates for each one, the best results were obtained with the treatment with a dosage of 30 g of dolomite and 6 hours the final concentrations were determined 0.08 mg / L of As, 0.006 mg/L of Cd, 0.155 mg/L, < LCM (0.04 mg/L) of Pb and 10.59 mg/L of Zn reaching a pH of 7.63. At point two in the drainage, it was possible to reduce As by 75%, Cd by 97.86%, Pb by 98.2%, Fe 99.7% and Zn by 92.23% and increase the pH until reaching neutral values, with this it is being proposed a complementary treatment for the water from mining environmental liabilities.