Treatment of Mine Water with Reverse Osmosis and Concentrate Processing to Recover Copper and Deposit Calcium Carbonate.

Mine water usually contains heavy metals and other inorganic and organic pollutants that contaminate water bodies. Reverse osmosis (RO) techniques are capable of producing purified water that meets discharge regulations. However, the problem of RO concentrate disposal and utilization is still not solved.

The Selection of Efficient Antiscalant for RO Facility, Control of Its Quality and Evaluation of the Economical Efficiency of Its Application.

Adsorption of polymeric inhibitor molecules to calcium carbonate crystal surface was investigated. Inhibiting efficiencies of phosphonic acid-based antiscalants are dependent on the amount of adsorbed material on the growing crystal surface. A strong antiscalant even at a small dose provides the necessary rate of adsorption.