Improving passive bioreactors for treatment of mine drainage

这项研究是Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd.、Clear Coast Consulting和UBC之间的合作。Avino Silver and Gold Mines Ltd.拥有并运营公元前Bralorne的Bralorne金矿。该矿产生的废水必须得到处理。Clear Coast Consulting开发了一种新型被动式生物反应器系统，该系统已被证明在正常流动期间相当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要求。然而，被动系统在处理源自春季淡水的大流量时就没有那么成功了。Clear Coast Consulting已经提出了在新鲜期间向反应器中添加可溶碳源的想法，以刺激反应器中的有机体的活动。以往的经验表明，这将使反应堆在高流量条件下运行良好。当该计划提交给不列颠哥伦比亚省矿业部时，他们提出了一些具体的问题，必须先回答这些问题，然后才能允许全面实施。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。我们将确定最适合作为碳源添加的化学品，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堆中沉淀的砷的形式。该项目将在基础微生物学和化学调查以及处理工业系统中真实世界情景的方法方面为硕士学生提供宝贵的培训经验。这一结果将立即使Bralorne金矿公司受益，并随后惠及不列颠哥伦比亚省采矿业和其他行业。被动式生物反应器能够在对人类注意力的要求较低的情况下运行，因此将降低劳动力成本，并降低与采矿、运输和存储大量化学物质相关的成本，这些化学物质是执行常规排水处理所必需的。环境效益将是更稳定和可靠的处理系统，这些系统利用自然微生物过程来控制采矿作业中的污染物排放。

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.