Biosorption of heavy metals in a photo-rotating biological contactor--a batch process study

Metal removal potential of indigenous mining microorganisms from acid mine drainage (AMD) has been well recognised in situ at mine sites. However, their removal capacity requires to be investigated for AMD treatment. In the reported study, the capacity of an indigenous AMD microbial consortium dominated with Klebsormidium sp., immobilised in a photo-rotating biological contactor (PRBC), was investigated for removing various elements from a multi-ion synthetic AMD. The synthetic AMD was composed of major (Cu, Mn, Mg, Zn, Ca, Na, Ni) and trace elements (Fe, Al, Cr, Co, Se, Ag, Mo) at initial concentrations of 2 to 100 mg/L and 0.005 to 1 mg/L, respectively. The PRBC was operated for two 7-day batch periods under pH conditions of 3 and 5. The maximum removal was observed after 3 and 6 days at pH 3 and 5, respectively. Daily water analysis data demonstrated the ability of the algal-microbial biofilm to remove an overall average of 25-40 % of the major elements at pH 3 in the order of Na > Cu > Ca > Mg > Mn > Ni > Zn, whereas a higher removal (35-50 %) was observed at pH 5 in the order of Cu > Mn > Mg > Ca > Ni > Zn > Na. The removal efficiency of the system for trace elements varied extensively between 3 and 80 % at the both pH conditions. The batch data results demonstrated the ability for indigenous AMD algal-microbial biofilm for removing a variety of elements from AMD in a PRBC. The work presents the potential for further development and scale-up to use PBRC inoculated with AMD microorganisms at mine sites for first or secondary AMD treatment.