The study was conducted on the status of the quality of wastewater from the tailings dam of Central Africa Gold Limited in Bibiani, Ghana, to ascertain the level of contamination of the wastewater. The tailings dam st...The study was conducted on the status of the quality of wastewater from the tailings dam of Central Africa Gold Limited in Bibiani, Ghana, to ascertain the level of contamination of the wastewater. The tailings dam stores process effluent from the gold extraction plant. Wastewater samples taken from the tailings dam were analyzed for physico-chemical characteristics. Arsenic, iron and cyanide were identified as the major pollutants in the tailings dam wastewater with average concentrations of 4.5, 25.2 and 11.1 mg.L1, respectively. Arsenic, iron and free CN （cyanide） concentrations in the process effluent exceeded the Ghana EPA discharge limits of 0.2, 2 and 0.2 mg.Ll, respectively. High conductivity, total dissolved solids, sulphate and ammonium were found in the wastewater studied. The tailings dam serves as a natural reservoir that removes most of the total suspended solids and the turbidity, resulting in the improvement in the aesthetic appeal of the wastewater. Nonetheless, arsenic, iron and cyanide concentrations were still high and hence the wastewater cannot be discharged into the environment without prior treatment.展开更多
In this paper, composite coagulants （PFS, PFSC05, PFSC1 and PFSC5）, prepared by mixing polyferric sulfate （PFS） and cationic polyelectrolyte （CP） coagulants with different weight percent （Wv） of CP （Wp = 0%, ...In this paper, composite coagulants （PFS, PFSC05, PFSC1 and PFSC5）, prepared by mixing polyferric sulfate （PFS） and cationic polyelectrolyte （CP） coagulants with different weight percent （Wv） of CP （Wp = 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 5%, respectively）, were adopted to treat cyanide-containing wastewater. PFSC5 exhibited superior coagulation performances at optimal conditions： the removal of total cyanide （TCN） and chemical oxygen demand （COD） was 95%-97% and 50%-55%, respectively. The effects of CP on the properties and structure of flocs were investigated by laser diffraction instrument and small-angle laser light scattering （SALLS）, respectively. The results show that the flocs of PFSC5 have higher growth rate, higher strength factor and lower recovery factor than other flocs. They are also much denser and more uniform owing to the higher fractal dimension （DO and less microflocs （10-100μm）. Furthermore, the dense structure of the PFSC5 flocs can be restored after shear and is more resistant to hydraulic conditions. Particularly, detailed morphology evolution of the flocs was in-situ detected by on-line particle imaging. Due to strong ionic strength in wastewater, the CP in PFSC5 plays a significant role of adsorption, while the main mechanism of CP is electrostatic patch aggregation during the PFSC05 systems.展开更多
文摘The study was conducted on the status of the quality of wastewater from the tailings dam of Central Africa Gold Limited in Bibiani, Ghana, to ascertain the level of contamination of the wastewater. The tailings dam stores process effluent from the gold extraction plant. Wastewater samples taken from the tailings dam were analyzed for physico-chemical characteristics. Arsenic, iron and cyanide were identified as the major pollutants in the tailings dam wastewater with average concentrations of 4.5, 25.2 and 11.1 mg.L1, respectively. Arsenic, iron and free CN （cyanide） concentrations in the process effluent exceeded the Ghana EPA discharge limits of 0.2, 2 and 0.2 mg.Ll, respectively. High conductivity, total dissolved solids, sulphate and ammonium were found in the wastewater studied. The tailings dam serves as a natural reservoir that removes most of the total suspended solids and the turbidity, resulting in the improvement in the aesthetic appeal of the wastewater. Nonetheless, arsenic, iron and cyanide concentrations were still high and hence the wastewater cannot be discharged into the environment without prior treatment.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51108441)the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China(2011BAC06B09)the Special Foundation of the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
文摘In this paper, composite coagulants （PFS, PFSC05, PFSC1 and PFSC5）, prepared by mixing polyferric sulfate （PFS） and cationic polyelectrolyte （CP） coagulants with different weight percent （Wv） of CP （Wp = 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 5%, respectively）, were adopted to treat cyanide-containing wastewater. PFSC5 exhibited superior coagulation performances at optimal conditions： the removal of total cyanide （TCN） and chemical oxygen demand （COD） was 95%-97% and 50%-55%, respectively. The effects of CP on the properties and structure of flocs were investigated by laser diffraction instrument and small-angle laser light scattering （SALLS）, respectively. The results show that the flocs of PFSC5 have higher growth rate, higher strength factor and lower recovery factor than other flocs. They are also much denser and more uniform owing to the higher fractal dimension （DO and less microflocs （10-100μm）. Furthermore, the dense structure of the PFSC5 flocs can be restored after shear and is more resistant to hydraulic conditions. Particularly, detailed morphology evolution of the flocs was in-situ detected by on-line particle imaging. Due to strong ionic strength in wastewater, the CP in PFSC5 plays a significant role of adsorption, while the main mechanism of CP is electrostatic patch aggregation during the PFSC05 systems.
