Impacts of detrital nano- and micro-scale particles (dNP) on contaminant dynamics in a coal mine AMD treatment system

Liliana Lefticariu; Stephen R Sutton; Kelly S Bender; Mihai Lefticariu; Martin Pentrak; Joseph W Stucki

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.154

Impacts of detrital nano- and micro-scale particles (dNP) on contaminant dynamics in a coal mine AMD treatment system

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Jan 1:575:941-955. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.154. Epub 2016 Oct 17.

Authors

Liliana Lefticariu¹, Stephen R Sutton², Kelly S Bender³, Mihai Lefticariu⁴, Martin Pentrak⁵, Joseph W Stucki⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Geology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA; Environmental Resources and Policy Program, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA. Electronic address: lefticar@siu.edu.
² Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Center for Advanced Radiation Sources, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
⁴ Mass Spectrometry Facility, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
⁵ Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.

PMID: 27743654
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.09.154

Abstract

Pollutants in acid mine drainage (AMD) are usually sequestered in neoformed nano- and micro-scale particles (nNP) through precipitation, co-precipitation, and sorption. Subsequent biogeochemical processes may control nNP stability and thus long-term contaminant immobilization. Mineralogical, chemical, and microbiological data collected from sediments accumulated over a six-year period in a coal-mine AMD treatment system were used to identify the pathways of contaminant dynamics. We present evidence that detrital nano- and micron-scale particles (dNP), composed mostly of clay minerals originating from the partial weathering of coal-mine waste, mediated biogeochemical processes that catalyzed AMD contaminant (1) immobilization by facilitating heterogeneous nucleation and growth of nNP in oxic zones, and (2) remobilization by promoting phase transformation and reductive dissolution of nNP in anoxic zones. We found that dNP were relatively stable under acidic conditions and estimated a dNP content of ~0.1g/L in the influent AMD. In the AMD sediments, the initial nNP precipitates were schwertmannite and poorly crystalline goethite, which transformed to well-crystallized goethite, the primary nNP repository. Subsequent reductive dissolution of nNP resulted in the remobilization of up to 98% of S and 95% of Fe accompanied by the formation of a compact dNP layer. Effective treatment of pollutants could be enhanced by better understanding the complex, dynamic role dNP play in mediating biogeochemical processes and contaminant dynamics at coal-mine impacted sites.

Keywords: Acid mine drainage; Bioremediation; Clay minerals; Coal mining; Detrital nano-and micro-scale particles (dNP); Nanoparticles; Neoformed nano-and micro-scale particles (nNP).