Combined Microfiltration and Reverse Osmosis Process for Mining Water Treatment

Abstract

Nowadays mining water flowing out of an ore mine can be a serious threaten to the environmental due to high content of metals, especially heavy metals as well as solid particles. For this reason, this work proposes a membrane technology for mining water treatment so that the treated water meets the quality criteria of water for release into a recipient or industrial use. First polluted water was prepared, containing high concentrations of metals as well as other elements. Water was treated by selected membrane processes (stage 1 - microfiltration, stage 2- reverse osmosis). The stage 2 produced demineralized water, which was remineralised using Semidol – a dolomitic filter-material approved under DIN EN 1017 and DIN 2000. It can be concluded that the resulting water quality in terms of hardness and presence of nitrates and heavy metals improved and the water treatment method is suitable for preparation of both water safe for the environment and industrial water.