Publications by authors named "Emma-Tuulia Tolonen"
Article Synopsis
- Sulfate (SO) is common in natural waters, and while it's not toxic, high concentrations can harm freshwater species.
- Mining is a major source of sulfate pollution due to the weathering of sulfide minerals.
- The review focuses on methods to reduce sulfate levels in mine effluents to below 1500 mg/L, exploring options like chemical precipitation, membrane technology, biological treatment, ion exchange, and adsorption.
Ammonium [Formula: see text] removal from municipal wastewater poses challenges with the commonly used biological processes. Especially at low wastewater temperatures, the process is frequently ineffective and difficult to control. One alternative is to use ion-exchange.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this research was to investigate sulphate removal from mine water by precipitation as ettringite (Ca6Al2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O) and the utilisation of the precipitate as a sorbent for arsenate removal. The mine water sulphate concentration was reduced by 85-90% from the initial 1400 mg/L during ettringite precipitation depending on the treatment method. The precipitation conditions were also simulated with MINEQL + software, and the computational results were compared with the experimental results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Researchers developed a geopolymer sorbent using blast-furnace slag modified with barium to effectively remove sulfate ions (SO4(2-)) from mine water.
- The barium-modified blast-furnace slag geopolymer (Ba-BFS-GP) showed the highest sulfate sorption capacity, outperforming other materials in existing studies.
- Further analysis indicated that Ba-BFS-GP's sorption process aligns with pseudo-second-order kinetics and achieved very low sulfate concentrations in mine effluents during dynamic removal tests.
The mining industry is a major contributor of various toxic metals and metalloids to the aquatic environment. Efficient and economical water treatment methods are therefore of paramount importance. The application of natural or low-cost sorbents has attracted a great deal of interest due to the simplicity of its process and its potential effectiveness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of magnesium on partial sulphate removal from mine water as gypsum.
J Environ Manage
August 2015
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to examine how magnesium affects the removal of sulfate from mine water as gypsum, using simulations and lab tests.
- Results indicated that at a pH of 9.6, magnesium kept sulfate dissolved as magnesium sulfate, hindering its removal as gypsum.
- By increasing the pH to 12.5, magnesium precipitated as magnesium hydroxide, which improved sulfate removal and could also aid in forming gypsum crystals.
Article Synopsis
- The research explored using by-products from quicklime manufacturing as alternatives to commercial quicklime and hydrated lime for treating acid mine drainage.
- Four by-products were examined: partly burnt lime stored outdoors, partly burnt lime in a silo, kiln dust, and a mixture of partly burnt lime with dolomite.
- All by-products effectively removed over 99% of various toxic metals and about 60% of sulphate, with two of the by-products demonstrating enough neutralization capacity to be viable alternatives.