ISSN:
1747-6593
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Wetlands were constructed between 1995 and 1999 to treat discharges from abandoned coalmines in the Pelenna Valley, South Wales. This was one of the first and most comprehensive demonstrations of passive minewater treatment technology in Europe, incorporating aerobic and anaerobic cells, including ‘reducing and alkalinity-producing systems. The wetlands were monitored to assess their performance and longevity and were found to remove 82-96% of the incoming iron, with no decline in treatment performance over the monitoring period to 2002. Oxidation was found to be the dominant iron-removal process, even in vertical-flow cells which were designed to utilise anaerobic processes. Factors limiting the longevity of iron-removal processes were identified. maintenance requirements were highlighted and life-span predictions were calculated for the systems. The wetlands were shown to be an effective and low maintenance (but not maintenance-free) method of treating net-acidic and net-alkaline minewater.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-6593.2004.tb00513.x
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