Design and evaluation of a pilot-scale electro-biochemical reactor

Update Item Information
Title Design and evaluation of a pilot-scale electro-biochemical reactor
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Mines & Earth Sciences
Department Metallurgical Engineering
Author Peoples, Michael John
Date 2014-12
Description The removal of nitrate, arsenic, and selenium from mining influenced waters (MIW) to ultra-low levels remains difficult. The results achieved from the design and evaluation of a novel Electro-Biochemical Reactor represent a breakthrough in the removal of metals and inorganics, including nitrate, arsenic, and selenium, from mine water. The Electro-Biochemical Reactor (EBR) can be employed in multiple configurations; its simplest form is a single pass, fixed-bed, up-flow bioreactor for the removal of metals, metalloids, and inorganics from water. The Electro-Biochemical Reactor relies on direct provision of electrons into the bioreactor to develop electron donor/acceptor environments for the transformation of contaminants. The application of an applied voltage (1-3 VDC) potential provides readily available electrons for enhancement of microbial donor/acceptor metabolic reactions and helps control the oxidation/reduction potential of the bioreactor environment. Several configurations of the Electro-Biochemical Reactor (EBR) were tested at benchscale (1 Liter/day) and pilot-scale (1-4 Liters/minute) using mine effluent waters from two different mine sites to remove nitrate, arsenic, and/or selenium to effluent target levels. Results indicate selection and screening of different microbes and microbial support material (MSM) for site-specific waters affected contaminant removal performance; selection of the proper microbes and MSM resulted in significantly improved contaminant transformation kinetics. Side by side bench-scale tests of an EBR vs. CBR (conventional bioreactor) on mine water containing nitrate and arsenic were conducted. In these tests, EBR performance was 13% better than the conventional bioreactor, the CBR, removing arsenic from 350 ppb to a final concentration of 12 ppb versus a final concentration of 50 ppb for the CBR. Pilot-scale tests of the EBR system were conducted at a closed heap-leach Gold mine for nitrate and arsenic removal and at a Base Metal mine for selenium removal from site waters. Pilot-scale results from the gold kinetics. Side by side bench-scale tests of an EBR vs. CBR (conventional bioreactor) on mine water containing nitrate and arsenic were conducted. In these tests, EBR performance was 13% better than the conventional bioreactor, the CBR, removing arsenic from 350 ppb to a final concentration of 12 ppb versus a final concentration of 50 ppb for the CBR. Pilot-scale tests of the EBR system were conducted at a closed heap-leach Gold mine for nitrate and arsenic removal and at a Base Metal mine for selenium removal from site waters. Pilot-scale results from the gold kinetics. Side by side bench-scale tests of an EBR vs. CBR (conventional bioreactor) on mine water containing nitrate and arsenic were conducted. In these tests, EBR performance was 13% better than the conventional bioreactor, the CBR, removing arsenic from 350 ppb to a final concentration of 12 ppb versus a final concentration of 50 ppb for the CBR. Pilot-scale tests of the EBR system were conducted at a closed heap-leach Gold mine for nitrate and arsenic removal and at a Base Metal mine for selenium removal from site waters. Pilot-scale results from the gold mine waters indicate the EBR system was able to remove arsenic from 800 ppb to an average of 50 ppb and 20 ppm of nitrate to nondetectable levels in less than 10 hours. Further EBR pilotscale tests were conducted at a Base Metal mine for selenium removal. The EBR system successfully removed selenium from an average of 2.73 ppm to less than 0.002 ppm in approximately 8 hours. Additionally, the EBR system's ability to remove other metals and inorganics is shown in Table 22.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Bioprocess engineering; Electrochemistry; Inorganics; Metals; Microbiology; Mine water
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Michael John Peoples 2014
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 5,914,061 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/3340
ARK ark:/87278/s65q84cx
Setname ir_etd
ID 196905
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65q84cx
Back to Search Results