Improving passive bioreactors for treatment of mine drainage

这项研究是Bralorne金矿有限公司，清晰海岸咨询公司和不列颠哥伦比亚大学。Avino银和金矿有限公司拥有和经营Bralorne金矿在Bralorne BC。矿井产生必须处理的排水。Clear Coast Consulting开发了一种新型的被动生物反应器系统，该系统已被证明在常规流量期间非常成功地从矿山排水中去除砷，使Bralorne金矿能够继续采矿作业并满足排放许可证要求。然而，被动式系统在处理源于春季淡水的大流量时并不成功。Clear Coast咨询公司提出了在新鲜过程中向反应器中添加可溶性碳源的想法，以刺激反应器中生物体的活性。以前的经验表明，这将使反应器在高流量条件下运行良好。当该计划被提交给不列颠哥伦比亚省矿业部时，他们回答了一些具体的问题，这些问题必须在允许全面系统之前得到回答。该项目旨在通过检查发生的一些基本反应以及确定实际操作参数来回答这些问题。我们将确定作为碳源添加的最佳化学品，以及何时添加碳以实现我们的目标，以及不同的碳源将如何影响反应器中沉淀的砷的形式。该项目将为硕士生提供基础微生物和化学调查以及处理工业系统中真实情况的方法方面的宝贵培训经验。结果将立即有利于Bralorne金矿，随后有利于BC省采矿业及其他行业。被动式生物反应器能够在对人类注意力的低要求下操作，因此将降低劳动力成本以及与开采、运输和储存进行排水的常规处理所需的大量化学品相关的成本。环境效益将是更稳定和可靠的处理系统，利用自然微生物过程控制采矿作业的污染物排放。

This research is a collaboration between Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd., Clear Coast consulting and UBC. Avino Silver and Gold Mines Ltd. owns and operates the Bralorne Gold Mine in Bralorne BC. The mine, produces drainage that must be treated. Clear Coast Consulting has developed a novel passive bioreactor system that has been demonstrated to be quite successful in removing arsenic from the mine drainage during regular flows, allowing Bralorne Gold Mines to continue mining operations and meet discharge permit requirements. The passive system, however, was not as successful when treating the large flows that stem from spring freshet. Clear Coast Consulting has developed the idea of adding a soluble carbon source to the reactor during the freshet to stimulate the activity of the organisms in the reactor. Previous experience suggests that this will allow the reactor to perform well under the high flow conditions. When the plan was put to the BC Ministry of Mines, they responded with some specific questions that must be answered before a full scale system can be allowed. This project has been designed to answer those questions by examining some of the fundamental reactions occurring as well as determining practical operating parameters. We will determine the best chemical to be added as a carbon source and when to add the carbon to achieve our goals and how different carbon sources will affect the form of arsenic precipitated in the reactor. The project will provide a valuable training experience to a master's student in both fundamental microbiological and chemical investigations as well as in methods to deal with real-world scenarios in an industrial system. The results will immediately benefit Bralorne Gold Mines and subsequently the BC mining industry and beyond. Passive bioreactors are able to operate with low requirements for human attention and so will reduce labor costs and also the costs associated with mining, transporting and storing the large amounts of chemicals necessary to perform conventional treatment of drainage water. The environmental benefit will be more stable and reliable treatment systems that take advantage of natural microbial processes to control release of pollutants from mining operations.************