Integrating sulfidization with neutralization treatment for selective recovery of copper and zinc over iron from acid mine drainage

The most commonly used commercial process for acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment today is lime neutralization. However, it is accompanied by the treatment of produced metal hydroxide precipitate. Because of the decrease in the capacity of landfill disposal site and the increase in the price of base metals such as copper (Cu) in recent years, it is expected that not only to treat but also to recover these base metals from AMD. For the subsequent smelting process, the major issue is how to separate the Cu and zinc (Zn) over iron (Fe) from AMD as selectively as possible. s work, we attempted to achieve this objective by modifying the present lime neutralization treatment process with sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) sulfidization. An AMD sample generated from an abandoned copper mine located in east Japan was utilized in this study. At first, lime neutralization was applied to the AMD to find the precipitation behaviors of Cu, Zn, and Fe. Next, NaHS sulfidization as well as the integration with lime neutralization were conducted to separately precipitate Cu, Zn, and Fe from the AMD. Finally, two modified treatment approaches for selectively recovering Cu and Zn over Fe from the AMD were proposed. The results of consecutive experiments for the two proposed approaches showed that Cu, Zn, and Fe in the AMD were removed and separated into individual precipitates, and that the concentrations of each heavy metal in the final effluent were also able to meet the Japanese effluent standards.