Genmine – improved membrane performance for mine wastewater clean-up and precious metal recovery

水资源管理是采矿业最突出的可持续性问题。它是所有采矿活动的关键投入，使该部门成为用水最密集的部门之一。尽管处理废水沃茨（含有许多不同的污染物，包括酸性矿井排水、硫化铁、氰化物、砷和其他重金属）很重要，但目前的做法远远不能持续，因为该行业目前面临的用水/排放方面的监管和财政压力越来越大。由于90%以上的矿井水有可能被再利用，并提高了有价金属的回收率，膜技术最近在该行业的应用受到了极大的关注。然而，由于进料沃茨中复杂悬浮和溶解固体的浓度非常高，远远超出了正常膜设备操作的参数，因此在采矿应用中，快速结垢和结垢的问题显著加剧，膜性能在短得多的时间内受损。因此，提供防止结垢形成和清洁污染的膜以延长寿命的潜力的技术因此在新兴市场中代表了重要的商业机会，在新兴市场中，目前的商品清洁和防垢解决方案被证明是无效的。通过开发一系列专门针对采矿业的产品，以应对矿山供水沃茨的重大挑战，Gensys的目标是利用这一机会，帮助这家英国中小企业在一个有望大幅增长的市场中处于领先地位。

Water management is the preeminent sustainability issue within the Mining sector. It is a critical input across all mining activities, making this sector one of the most water intensive. Despite the importance of treating waste waters (which contain many different contaminants including Acid mine drain water, iron sulphide, cyanide, arsenic and other heavy metals), current practices are far from sustainable with increasing Regulatory and Financial pressures around water use/discharge now facing the sector. With the potential for >90% of mine water to be reused as well as enhanced valuable metal recovery, significant attention has recently been placed on the use of Membrane Technologies within the sector. However with very high concentrations of complex suspended and dissolved solids in feed waters which are far outside of the parameters of normal membrane plant operation, issues around rapid fouling and scalling are significantly exacerbated in mining applications with membrane performance impaired in a much shorter time. Techniques that therefore offer the potential to prevent scale formation and to clean fouled membranes extending lifespan therefore represent a significant commercial opportunity in an emerging market where current commodity cleaning and antiscalant solutions are proving ineffective. Through the development of a range of products aimed specifically at the mining sector that address the significant challenge of mine feed waters, Gensys aim to exploit this opportunity helping to establish this UK SME at the forefront of a market poised for significant growth.