Acid mine drainage | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines or coal mines. Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weathering process but is exacerbated by large-scale earth disturbances characteristic of mining and other large construction activities, usually within rocks containing an abundance of sulfide minerals. Areas where the earth has been disturbed (e.g. construction sites, subdivisions, and transportation corridors) may create acid rock drainage. In many localities, the liquid that drains from coal stocks, coal handling facilities, coal washeries, and coal waste tips can be highly acidic, and in such cases it is treated as acid rock drainage. This liquid often contains highly toxic metals, such as copper or iron. These, combined with reduced pH, have a detrimental impact on the streams' aquatic environments. The same type of chemical reactions and processes may occur through the disturbance of acid sulfate soils formed under coastal or estuarine conditions after the last major sea level rise, and constitutes a similar environmental hazard. Historically, the acidic discharges from active or abandoned mines were called acid mine drainage, or AMD. The term acid rock drainage, or ARD, was introduced in the 1980s and 1990s to indicate that acidic drainage can originate from sources other than mines. For example, a paper presented in 1991 at a major international conference on this subject was titled: "The Prediction of Acid Rock Drainage – Lessons from the Database". Both AMD and ARD refer to low pH or acidic waters caused by the oxidation of sulfide minerals, though ARD is the more generic name. In cases where drainage from a mine is not acidic and has dissolved metals or metalloids, or was originally acidic, but has been neutralized along its flow path, then it is described as "neutral mine drainage", "mining-influenced water" or otherwise. None of these other names have gained general acceptance.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (3)

Mn-Ce/AC catalysts for low-temperature NH3-SCR of NOx were deliberately loaded with various potassium salts (KCl, KNO3, and K2SO4) to investigate the influence of the counter-ions on the poisoning imp

ELSEVIER2022

Sulfidic mine tailings have to be classified as one of the major source of hazardous materials leading to water contamination. This study highlights the processes leading to sulfide oxidation and acid

2011

Characterization of surface functional groups present on laboratory-generated and ambient aerosol particles by means of heterogeneous titration reactions

Michel Rossi, Michel Guillemin

A Knudsen flow reactor has been used to quantify surface functional groups on aerosols collected in the field. This technique is based on a heterogeneous titration reaction between a probe gas and a s

2009

Related people (1)

Pierre Rossi

Related concepts (40)

Related courses (1)

ENV-202: Microbiology for engineers

Le cours "Microbiologie pour l'ingénieur" couvre les processus microbiens principaux qui ont lieu dans l'environnement et dans des systèmes de traitement. Il présente les cycles des éléments qui sont

Related lectures (10)

Soil Sample Analysis: CEC Analysis

Explains the process of analyzing cation exchange capacity in soil samples through extraction and titration.

Acid Mine Drainage: Environmental Impact and Treatment

Discusses the environmental impact and treatment of acid mine drainage caused by pyrite exposure during mining activities.

Iron Oxidation: Processes and Mechanisms

Explores the process of iron oxidation, covering abiotic and microbial oxidation mechanisms, microbial diversity, and ecological significance.

Acid mine drainage

Open-pit mining

Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of mining differs from extractive methods that require tunnelling into the earth, such as long wall mining. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially useful ore or rocks are found near the surface.

Bioleaching

Bioleaching is the extraction of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms. This is much cleaner than the traditional heap leaching using cyanide. Bioleaching is one of several applications within biohydrometallurgy and several methods are used to recover copper, zinc, lead, arsenic, antimony, nickel, molybdenum, gold, silver, and cobalt. Bioleaching can involve numerous ferrous iron and sulfur oxidizing bacteria, including Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (formerly known as Thiobacillus ferrooxidans) and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans (formerly known as Thiobacillus thiooxidans).