Date of Award

2013

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.Sc.

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Keywords

Applied sciences, Acid mine drainage, Biological sulfate reduction, Methanogen inhibition

Supervisor

Rajesh Seth

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

Metal precipitation using sulfide produced biologically by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) is an attractive alternative for the treatment acid mine drainage (AMD). The process can be affected by competition from methane producing bacteria (MPB) when organic carbon is limited. This study shows that linoleic acid (LA) can be used to selectively inhibit MPB in high rate semi-continuous upflow anaerobic hybrid reactors (UAHR) to make more organic carbon available to SRB. At a slug LA dose of 1000 mg/L in LA-treated UAHR, ∼ 100% of organic carbon reduced was diverted to sulfate reduction as compared to 74 - 59% in the control UAHR at hydraulic retention time (HRT) varying between 50 - 7 days. Sulfate reduction of 99 - 85% and sulfide levels of 470 - 500 mg/L were maintained in LA-treated UAHR as compared to sulfate reduction of 94 - 58% and sulfide levels of 450 - 280 mg/L in the control UAHR.

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