Wastewater And Mine Water Treatment Solutions That You Need To Know

Mine water treatment technologies help mining firms reduce their effects on the environment. It is therefore important for every mining company to come up with efficient ways to treat their mine water and wastewater. Most mine water treatment technologies are tailored for industrial use and these technologies help to extract minerals from streams of water, produce reusable water for mining activities, re-use process water and treat mine sludge.

Working with the right company

While some mining companies try to treat their own water, working with a professional who has specialized in treating mine water is recommended. It is therefore important for mining companies to work with the right company that will provide them with the right water treatment technologies to match the mining requirements. Whether it is the mining of nickel, gold and copper, coal, uranium, or other minerals, it is important to match specific requirements to the type of mining in place. Water solutions help mining companies to reduce waste, refine minerals, drive profitability and limit pollution.

Clarification

Water clarification removes particulate matter and suspended solids –usually with the help of coagulants and flocculants. This improves settling. Clarification systems are either circular where the flow of water occurs from the centre outward or rectangular where the follow of water occurs from end to end. Clarification of water is used in the treatment of municipal wastewater, industrial effluent, and municipal drinking water as pre-treatment to enable further purification processes. Mine water treatment systems that use clarification also use it as a specialized application for oil and grease removal in industrial effluents.

Evaporation and crystallization

Evaporation and crystallization are thermal processes and are used in a variety of industries. Their application in the treatment of water normally involves either waste stream or water recovery from brine. Use of crystallization and evaporation technologies in combination with other processes are used to establish zero liquid effluent discharge water treatment systems. The intension of this is to recycle effluent water as process water to recover valuable components from the brine stream. This prevents contamination of the environment and it also reduces dumping penalties and fees. It also provides a source of income.

Disinfection

Disinfecting water by physio-chemical means entails destroying disease-causing organisms in order to prevent the spread of diseases. Processes such as ultraviolet irradiation and ozonation also help in destroying biological contaminants that remain in the water after treating the water such as COD and colour. These processes are used in industrial effluent reclamation, potable water treatment, municipal wastewater treatment and ultra-pure water applications.

Ion exchange

This is a process that involves the exchange of ions between an ion exchange resin and a solution. It is a reversible process. The process is widely used for softening water in residential and industrial applications.

Membrane separation

This is also one of the popular mine water treatment technologies. It is a family of water filtration processes where feed water is typically forced through a membrane (semi-permeable) at a high pressure to separate certain materials from the solution. Membrane separation is a crucial treatment stage in a wide range of water treatment applications.