Acid mine water neutralisation with ammonium hydroxide and desalination with barium hydroxide

Authors

  • MD Maila Department of Chemistry, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
  • JP Maree Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology , Private Bag X680, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
  • LM Cele Department of Chemistry, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v40i3.16

Keywords:

acid mine water, ammonium hydroxide, barium hydroxide, sulphate removal

Abstract

In South Africa, acid mine drainage is polluting increasingly scarce ground- and surface water. The ammonium-barium (NB) process described in this paper consists of neutralisation and metal removal with NH4OH, sulphate removal with Ba(OH)2 and Ca removal with CO2. Laboratory studies showed that metals are removed to low levels. This includes Fe(II), the predominant metal in mine water. It is first oxidised to Fe(III), whereafter it precipitates as Fe(OH)3. Sulphate is removed to low concentrations as BaSO4. During CO2 dosing, CaCO3 is precipitated to its saturation level. The simulation predictions followed the same pattern as the experimental results obtained. This study showed that NH4OH can be used for treatment of acid mine drainage rich in sulphates and NH4OH can be recycled in the process. Hydrated lime treatment resulted in removal of the remaining ammonia using a rotary evaporator.

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Published

2025-03-30

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 3 July (2014): Water SA

Section

Research paper

License

Copyright (c) 2025 MD Maila, JP Maree, LM Cele

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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The content of this journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.  Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal under the terms of this Licence, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author, provided the source is attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors.

How to Cite

MD Maila, JP Maree and LM Cele (2025) “Acid mine water neutralisation with ammonium hydroxide and desalination with barium hydroxide ”, Water SA, 40(3 July). doi:10.4314/wsa.v40i3.16.