Algae free-floating and attached to rocky and organic substrates capture dissolved metals in contaminated waters. When the algae die and settle out of the water column, they carry the metals with them. The biomass of the algae contributes carbon to the sediment which nourishes resident bacteria which can then stabilizes the captured metals. So Biological Polishing not only cleans water by removing contaminants but helps to keep it clean by stimulating the ARUM process. Accordingly, it is a valuable tool in the remediation of mine sites. Whenever possible, Boojum technicians stimulate Biological Polish in on-site ponds and lakes or construct treatment cells in which algae proliferate. Such cells have been built on mine sites in Canada, Brazil and Germany.
Boojum has developed a variety of techniques to induce algal blooms in acid affected waters. One approach is the addition of plant nutrients such as phosphate, a process that also takes iron out of solution. Another strategy is to install substrates in the water column to provide anchorage for filamentous algae. Contaminant removal mechanisms include complexing with organic matter, ion exchange, precipitation of metals such as zinc with iron hydroxides and uptake into the plant material.
Attached algae have been utilized to remove metals (Buchans; South Bay) and radionuclides such as radium and uranium (Link Lakes; Poehla, Germany) from effluents of base metal and uranium mining operations.
For a PDF, please send an email to: margarete.kalin@utoronto.ca
J10 Kalin, M., G. Meinrath and W.N. Wheeler, The removal of uranium from mining wastewater using algal/microbial biomass, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, (78:2), October 2004, pp. 141-177.
C96 Kalin, M., M.P. Smith and M.B. Wittrup, Ecosystem restoration incorporating minerotrophic ecology and Stoneworts that accumulate 226Ra. Proceedings of the Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology III conference, Freiberg, Germany, September 15-21, 2002, pp. 499-508.
C97 Kalin, M., G. Kießig and A. Kuechler, Ecological water treatment processes for underground uranium mine water: Progress after three years of operating a constructed wetland. Proceedings of the Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology III conference, Freiberg, Germany, September 15-21, 2002, pp. 591-600.
C92 Kalin, M., Closure with Ecological Engineering of a Remote Cu/Zn Concentrator: Overview of 10 years R & D Field Program. Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Waste Processing and Recycling in Mineral and Metallurgical Industries, MET SOC 40th Annual Conference of Metallurgists of CIM, “Waste Processing and Recycling in Mineral and Metallurgical Industries IV”, Toronto, August 26-29, 2001, pp. 521-533.
B4 Kalin, M. Biological Polishing of Zinc in a Mine Waste Management Area in Acid Mining Lakes: Acid Mine Drainage, Limnology and Reclamation, W. Geller, H. Klapper and W. Salomons (Eds.), Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 1998 pp. 321-334.
C71 Kalin, M. and M.P. Smith, Biopolishing Process for 226Ra Removal. Proceedings of the 1995 Annual Saskatchewan Conference ‘Environmental Management for Mining’, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, October 25-27, 1995, 16 pages.
C52 Kalin, M., A. Fyson and M.P. Smith, Passive Treatment Processes for the Mineral Sector. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of Metallurgists: International Symposium on Waste Processing and Recycling in Mineral and Metallurgical Industries, Vancouver, B.C., August 19-24, heeler, W.N. and M. Kalin, Biopolishing of Zinc and Other Metals by Periphyton Communities Around a Base Metal Mine. Presented at the 27th Central Canadian Symposium on Water Pollution Research, Burlington, Ontario, February 12, 1992, 5 pages. B2 Kalin, M., Ecological Engineering and Biological Polishing: Methods to Economize Waste Management in Hard Rock Mining in Ecological Engineering: An Introduction to Ecotechnology, W.J. Mitsch and S.E. Jorgensen (Eds.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Toronto, 1989, pp. 443-461.