Abstract
While mining is a central income generating industry, numerous environmental concerns are related with it. The development of a metal concentrated acid solution known as Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is a main environmental concern of some mining operations. In most cases it is desirable to prevent AMD, however, since this is not always possibly, treatment of AMD will mostly be required. It has been found that pervious concrete has waste water treatment qualities, however, limited work has been done to establish those qualities. The aim of this study is to examine and establish the connection between flow rate of AMD through a porous medium such as pervious concrete and the aggregate size of Pervious Concrete. This is done in order to achieve a low cost, yet effective method that can improve treatment of AMD for communities, especially in South Africa, affected by the problems associated with AMD. Some AMD samples are collected from South32 coal mine, which have high sulphate content, for laboratory testing. To predict fluid flow through pervious concrete as a medium, a mathematical model is formulated and tested. The results show that as AMD is filtered through the layers of pervious concrete precipitates of heavy metals may be removed. The pervious concrete layers also help to increase pH level of AMD to more acceptable values making concurrent absorption and neutralization a possible alternative.
M.Tech. (Mechanical Engineering Technology)