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Innovative Application of Water Quality and Flow Modeling to Design a Softening, UF/RO and Brine Handling System for Copper and Gold Mining Wastewater Treatment in the Peruvian Andes
Abstract
A systematic approach was utilized to design a water treatment plant to treat tailings water at a copper mine in northern Perú. Water to support the mine operation was stored in a tailings pond, which needed to maintain a maximum level to ensure dam stability and avoid overflows of untreated water. The latter are likely to occur during times of excessive precipitation and need to be avoided at all cost, as they may threaten a nearby river used by the surrounding communities for drinking water supply. A GoldSim water balance model provided an estimate of the required design flow to build a plant that would avoid these issues, and process modeling facilitated definition of the treatment requirements to meet the stringent discharge regulations, especially for sulfate, calcium and nitrite. A robust and reliable treatment system including RO membranes was subsequently designed around the model results and incorporated sufficient flexibility to meet compliance of the upcoming regulations even under extreme water quality conditions.
This paper investigated the performance of the electrochemical treatment technique in removing chloride from saline wastewater (brine) with particular attention to selected polynomial regression models as a follow-up to previous studies. The saline wastewaters were prepared and subjected to electrochemical treatment using developed carbon–resin (anode) and aluminium (cathode) electrodes. Electrochemical treatment of the synthesised saline wastewaters (between 10 x 103 mg/l and 40 x 103 mg/l of chloride) was conducted on a laboratory scale. The influences of picked-out operational factors on the functioning of the electrochemical purification process were monitored using fractional factorial experiments. Three mathematical models were formulated using Microsoft Excel Solver and evaluated statistically. The study revealed that the current, the time and the interval distance between the electrodes were significant and vital factors that impacted the performance of the electrochemical purification treatment of brine. The factors with negative special effects on the performance of the treatment process of brine were separation distance between the electrodes, pH, the depth of the electrode, the initial and primary concentration of the chloride and the flow and discharge rate of the wastewater. The performances of the polynomial regression models were with average errors of 2.99 %, 2.97 % and 2.94% and accuracy of 97.01 %, 97.03 % and 97.06 % for Models A, B and C, respectively. It was concluded that the electrochemical treatment of brine with carbon-resin electrodes is efficient in removing chloride from brine.
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