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Evaluation of design factors for cascade aerator to enhance efficiency of

oxidation pond for ferruginous mine drainage

Article in Environmental Technology · March 2016

DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2016.1153154

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Evaluation of design factors for a cascade aerator

to enhance the efficiency of an oxidation pond for
ferruginous mine drainage

Chamteut Oh, Sangwoo Ji, Youngwook Cheong, Giljae Yim & Ji-hye Hong

To cite this article: Chamteut Oh, Sangwoo Ji, Youngwook Cheong, Giljae Yim & Ji-hye Hong
(2016) Evaluation of design factors for a cascade aerator to enhance the efficiency of an
oxidation pond for ferruginous mine drainage, Environmental Technology, 37:19, 2483-2493,
DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2016.1153154

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ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY, 2016
VOL. 37, NO. 19, 2483–2493
[Link]

Evaluation of design factors for a cascade aerator to enhance the efficiency of an

oxidation pond for ferruginous mine drainage
Chamteut Oha, Sangwoo Jia, Youngwook Cheonga, Giljae Yima and Ji-hye Hongb
a
Geologic Environment Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, Korea; bInstitute of Mine Reclamation
Technology, Mine Reclamation Corporation, Wonju, South Korea

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

This research focused on the optimum design of a cascade aerator to enhance the efficiency of an Received 25 June 2015
oxidation pond in a passive treatment system for remediating ferruginous mine drainage. For this Accepted 7 February 2016
purpose, various aeration experiments with aerators of different drop heights (0–4 m) and
KEYWORDS
formations (types A and B) were executed on mine drainage. Type A simply drops the mine Cascade aerator; design
drainage into the oxidation pond while type B sprays the mine drainage and retains it for 8 min factor; oxidation pond; Fe2+
in each step. The efficiency enhancement of the oxidation pond was strongly dependent on the oxidation; ferruginous mine
increase in pH and DO of the mine drainage discharged into the pond. The water quality drainage
improved with the increase in drop height but especially showed better effect with type B. The
reasons for this result were attributed to the increase of contact surface and retention time of
the mine drainage. The cascade aerator, therefore, should be designed to be as high as possible
with the assistance of spraying form and retention time of the mine drainage to maximize the
efficiency of the oxidation pond. These effects could be evaluated by calculating required areas
of the oxidation pond for 95% of Fe2+ oxidation.

1. Introduction
the waste waters generated from mining sites are reme-
Large-scale human activities that affect and disturb the diated by passive treatment system. Passive treatment
underground such as mining or construction works system is also generally preferred due to its advantage
cause negative impacts on the stream, soil, and biota of low installation and maintenance cost.[11,12] Mine
[1] and waste water of acid mine drainage (AMD) and drainage, however, changes in water quality and inflow
acid rock drainage (ARD) are typical pollutants from rate especially if the precipitation rate shows seasonal
these activities.[2,3] Waste water, featuring high concen- fluctuation.[8] Therefore, passive treatment could have
trations of acidity, sulfate, and toxic metals, could be gen- a disadvantage in assuring constant remediation effi-
erated during the oxidation of pyrite and other sulfide ciency if the properties of the mine drainage are
minerals.[4,5,6] Among metals (such as Fe, Al, Mn, Zn, unstable. The easiest way of securing the stable target
Mg, Cu, Cr, Cd, As, and Pb) Fe is the most common con- efficiency is to procure enough area for the system, but
taminant in mine drainage.[7] Because mine drainage this is limited only to certain sites. Thus, ways of increas-
usually contains high concentration of Fe (>100 mg/L), ing the efficiency of an oxidation pond has been studied
Fe is regarded as a contaminant itself.[8] Fe can also as an individual step in a passive treatment system.
cause yellow boy [9] which can seriously aggravate the One plausible way to increase the efficiency of the oxi-
scenery near mining sites. This factor of unpleasant dation pond is to create an oxidative environment for the
scenery can generate a negative perception of the Fe2+ of the mine drainage flowing into the oxidation
general public – sometimes more than its actual effect pond through aeration. A cascade aerator using altitude
on the environment – toward the drainage. In addition difference of a contiguous area, especially, is regarded as
to fulfilling the standard level, minimizing the spread of an effective technique for a passive treatment system
residual Fe from the mine drainage into the surroundings because it is simple to be engineered and does not
is, therefore, essential to the success of waste water treat- require further maintenance.[13,14,15] The applicability
ment at mining sites.[10] of the cascade aerator and its effect on the efficiency
Mining sites are usually difficult to approach because of the oxidation pond was demonstrated in previous
most of them are located in mountainous areas, are small studies via field-scale experiments.[13,16] During aera-
in size, and show low pollutant load. This is why most of tion, it is the degassing of CO2 and the subsequent

CONTACT Sangwoo Ji swji@[Link] Geologic Environment Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, Korea
© 2016 Taylor & Francis
2484 C. OH ET AL.

increase in pH that mostly influence the enhancement of pumped up to the water tank and was aerated while
Fe2+ oxidation efficiency.[14] The enhancement of mine passing through the cascade aerator and successively
drainage water quality can be quantitatively measured oxidized in the oxidation pond (Figure 1 (a)). The
by predictive models.[17,18] Hydrodynamic behavior of cascade aerator consists of 8 steps with each being a
water during cascade aeration was also intensively size of 10 cm in width and 50 cm in height and is
researched.[19–24] The series of researches, however, capable of dropping the mine drainage from 0 m, 1 m,
presumed an external power supply or height difference 2 m, 3 m, and 4 m using distributors added to the
for maintaining a continuously sufficient aeration effect. water tank.[14,18] The cascade aerator was designed in
The required topographical condition might not actually two different variations of type A and type B based on
be obtainable in certain sites [25] and, therefore, it is drop formation. Type A was designed as a typical step
necessary to study ways of evaluating the effect of and simply dropped the water down to the next step
drop height on the remediation efficiency of the pond (Figure 2 (a)) whereas type B equipped vertical acrylic
or maximizing the efficiency with the given height differ- panels on the edge of each step with 26 holes (3 mm
ence condition to connect the cascade aerator efficiently in diameter). The panels spray the mine drainage in the
to the passive treatment system. form of thin streaks and generate a small pond where
This research aimed to quantitatively evaluate the the mine drainage is retained for 8 min before getting
design effect of a cascade aerator on remediation effi- discharged to the next step (Figure 2 (b)). The mine drai-
ciency of an oxidation pond. Pilot-scaled instruments of nage flowed into the oxidation pond (L:W:H = 240 cm:
a cascade aerator (4 m in height) and the subsequent oxi- 120 cm: 120 cm) after the final step of the cascade
dation pond (about 3.5 m3) were constructed on the field aerator. A total of 11 baffles were installed in the pond
to demonstrate the aeration and oxidation experiments. at intervals of 20 cm to induce the mine drainage to
The effect of drop height on water quality was confirmed pass a certain path at a certain time (Figure 1(c)). Thirteen
using the instrument. In addition, a novel form of cascade samples were obtained at various spots of the pond and
aerator was devised to improve the efficiency of the oxi- the oxidation processes over time were monitored.
dation pond and its mechanism was studied.

2. Materials and methods 2.3. Experimental methods

2.1. Target mine drainage The main procedure of field demonstration test was
devised to monitor water quality changes in the
The Dongwon coal mine, located in Sabuk, South Korea, process of the mine drainage passing through the
had been operated for 42 years from 1963 to 2004. Geo- cascade aerator and oxidation pond. Experimental vari-
logical properties of the site features dark gray to black ables were drop height (0 m, 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, and 4 m)
shale and fine dark gray sandstone intercalated with and form of the cascade aerator. At each experiment,
dark gray limestone lenses and several thin coal seams. mine drainage with a volume of 1.5 times that of the oxi-
[26] A shaft, from which the mine drainage for this dation pond had discharged from the water tank. It was
research was collected, was vertically excavated from assumed that the water in the oxidation pond flowed in a
the ground surface down to 550 m. The mine drainage steady-state, and the samples were obtained at 13 differ-
rose up to the ground surface after termination of drai- ent points. The flow rate was set in a range of 1.30–4.95
nage pumps and showed features of neutral pH, L/min (1.87–7.13 ton/day) and the time for monitoring
net alkaline, and low DO concentration due to its hydro- was determined in accordance with the flow rate (533–
geological properties on the field (Table 1). Detailed 2031 min).
descriptions and history about the field can be found Among the properties of the sampled mine drainage,
in a previous research.[27] pH, ORP, DO, EC, and temperature were measured by
portable meters (HQ 40d, HACH, USA) with each elec-
trode, and alkalinity was gauged by a field test kit (AL-
2.2. Cascade aerator
DT, HACH, USA). Total Fe ion (Feion = Fe2+ + Fe3+) and
A schematic diagram of the cascade aerator used in this Fe2+ concentration were quantified using inductively
research is shown in Figure 1. The mine drainage was coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-

Table 1. Initial water quality of Dongwon mine drainage used in the aeration experiments (April, 2014).
pH ORP (mV) DO (mg/L) Temp. (°C) EC (㎲/cm) Fe2+ (mg/L) Fetotal (mg/L) Net-alkalinity (mg/L CaCO3)
6.86 −105 1.70 16.1 1080 25.0 29.1 127
 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2485

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of cascade aerator; (a) complete view of the system, (b) cascade aerator, and (c) oxidation pond.

AES) (Ultima2, HORIBA, USA) and UV-Vis spectropho- governed by Equation 1 with an assumption that all Fe
tometer (DR 5000, HACH, USA), respectively, after being existed in ion form and no Fe hydroxide was in the
filtrated through a 0.45 μm membrane filter (Whatman, mine drainage right after being pumped up from the
UK). Total Fe concentration (Fetotal) including suspended shaft so that homogeneous oxidation was dominant
Fe hydroxide (mainly Fe(OH)3) as well as Feion was ana- during the experiments.[28] k1 is a rate constant for
lyzed by ICP-AES without filtration of the sampled mine homogeneous Fe2+ oxidation (M−2atm−1min−1) and PO2
drainage. Samples for UV-Vis and ICP-AES were acidified is the partial pressure of O2 in atm. O2 and bicarbonate
with concentrated HCl and HNO3, respectively. DCO2, which later influenced the concentrations of DO and
which indicates dissolved CO2 concentration (mg/L) DCO2 were consumed during Fe2+ oxidation (Equation
was calculated using PHREEQC with the measured pH, 2).[17]
alkalinity, temperature, and major ions. The measure-
d[O2 ] d[Fe2+ ]
ment of all water properties excluding Feion and Fetotal = kO2 (O2,s − O2,t )n − 0.25 (3)
dt dt
was completed on the field within 10 min. The samples
for Feion and Fetotal were placed in ice and analyzed
within 48 h in the laboratory. All data were presented d[CO2 ] d[HCO−3]
= kCO2 (CO2,s − CO2,t )n − (4)
in average values after duplicate or triplicate measure- dt dt
ment.
K P K 
1 CO2 H
pH = − log (5)
−d[Fe ]2+
[HCO− 3]
= k1 [OH− ]2 PO2 [Fe2+ ] (1)
dt
Gas exchange with atmosphere (O2, CO2) was another
Fe2+ + 0.25 O2 + 0.5 H2 O + 2 HCO−
3 dominant mechanism along with the Fe2+ oxidation
= Fe(OH)3 + 2 CO2 (2) reaction that governed DO and DCO2 concentrations
(Equation 3 and 4). kO2 (min−1) is a rate constant for O2
In this research, the change in water properties such exchange, O2,s and O2,t indicates DO concentrations at
as Fe2+, DO, DCO2, and pH over time was predicted saturation and time t. n is the order of reaction with
and depicted with the measured values. All square brack- respect to O2. The change in CO2 concentration caused
ets indicate a unit of mol kg−1. Fe2+ concentration is the solution to have a variation in pH level (Equation 5).
2486 C. OH ET AL.

Figure 2. Drop formation of mine drainage by the cascade aerator of (a) type A and (b) type B.

K1 is a function of temperature which can be obtained aerator (types A and B). According to Equation 1, Fe2+
from the PHREEQC database. KH (atm mol−1) is Henry’s oxidation is a function of DO and pH and thus, the two
law constant.[17] The change in water properties over factors were used to evaluate the aeration efficiency.
time could be predicted using the governing equations As the drop height of the mine drainage increased, the
(Equations 1–5) with the measured values from the aera- water qualities improved. The tendencies of improve-
tion experiments. Each rate constant (k1, kO2 , kCO2 ) was ment were, however, different depending on the drop
also obtained by the computation. A detailed method formation of the water. In case of type A, increases
of predicting the water properties was expounded in a in DO and pH plateaued from 2 m, while in type B,
previous research.[18] both values of DO and pH steadily increased even after
2 m.
The decrease in Fe2+ concentrations in the process of
3. Results and discussion cascade aeration and subsequent oxidation in the pond
was also monitored over time and have been presented
3.1. The effect of the cascade aerator on Fe2+
in relation to drop heights in Figure 4. The results
oxidation rate
showed that the higher the drop height the faster Fe2+
Figure 3 illustrates the change in water properties and its removal rate and type B showed better efficiencies than
increase rates during the water fall from the 4 m cascade type A in all the cases. The efficiency of the oxidation

Figure 3. The change in water property and its increase rates in (a) DO and (b) pH over drop height.
 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2487

Figure 4. Comparison of Fe2+ removal tendencies with different drop heights during aeration and subsequent oxidation; (a) type A and
(b) type B.

pond was especially retarded from 2 m of drop height in EC to similarly follow the tendency of Fe2+ removal
the case of type A whereas the oxidation rate showed con- (Figure 5(e)).
tinuous increase until 4 m in type B. These tendencies were
similar to those of both cascade aerators (Figure 3). It was ′ RT [Fe3+ ]
ORP = E o + ln (6)
confirmed from the above results that the Fe2+ oxidation F [Fe2+ ]
efficiency in the pond is strongly dependent on how
ORP (mV) of the ferruginous mine drainage having an
much the water quality of the mine drainage – which
ion redox pair such as Fe3+/ Fe2+ can be expressed by
was discharged into the pond after passing through the
Nernst equation as presented in Equation 6,[31] where
cascade aerator – had improved. The reasons to why
Eo’ (mV) is the formal potential of a Fe3+/ Fe2+ ion
type B demonstrated better effects on the enhancement
redox pair, R is the gas constant, T is the absolute temp-
of water quality are elaborated in chapter 3.3.
erature, and F is the Faraday constant. The faster increase
in ORP resulted from the increase in the concentration
3.2. Water characteristic changes during aeration ratio of Fe3+/ Fe2+ due to faster Fe2+ oxidation rate at
and oxidation the oxidation pond B (Figure 5(f)).

The change in water characteristics of mine drainage S1 S2 S3

Fe2+  Fe3+  Fe(OH)3, suspended  Fe(OH)3  (7)
(DO, DCO2, pH, alkalinity, ORP, EC, suspended Fe hydrox-
ide, and turbidity) which showed during the 4 m cascad-
ing and oxidation pond is illustrated in Figure 5. It was The entire process of Fe2+ becoming an Fe(OH)3 pre-
confirmed that better enhancements in quality of the cipitate can be abbreviated into three steps in Equation
water which passed type B were maintained throughout 7. Among the steps, S3, where colloidal particles of Fe
the whole process in the oxidation pond (Figure 5(a)–(c)). (OH)3 are flocculated and condensed into an enough
This suggested that the efficiency of the cascade aerator size to settle down,[32] would be a rate-determining
is a critical factor in improving the oxidation efficiency of step if the solution pH is alkaline in which Feion oxidation
the oxidation pond. rate can be promoted.[33] This process of Fe removal
The mechanisms affecting the water properties (DO, was applied similarly to this research. The reduction of
DCO2, pH, and Fe2+ concentration) of the ferruginous Feion concentration was relatively fast (S1 and S2 depen-
mine drainage are mainly gas exchange with atmos- dent) while Fetotal including suspended Fe(OH)3
phere and Fe oxidation.[17,29,30] The two mechanisms decreased slowly (S3 dependent). That is, suspended
can also explain the rest of the water properties of the Fe concentration (Fetotal-Feion) increased when Fe2+ oxi-
mine drainage. Showing a similar tendency to Fe2+ dation was vigorous and diminished as the particle size
removal, alkalinity also dropped (Figure 5(d)) due to of Fe(OH)3 became larger (Figure 5(g)). It was proved
the mechanism where alkalinity gets consumed during that turbidity of the mine drainage depended heavily
Fe2+ oxidation (Equation 2). The precipitation of Feion in on the concentration of suspended Fe hydroxide
the form of Fe hydroxide in turn made the decrease of (Figure 5(h)). This indicated that the stage of Fe2+
2488 C. OH ET AL.

Figure 5. Changes in water quality during 4 m fall and subsequent oxidation; (a) DO, (b) DCO2, (c) pH, (d) alkalinity, (e) EC, (f) ORP, (g) Fe
concentration, and (h) turbidity.
 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2489

removal of the ferruginous mine drainage could be esti- 8 (where kL is the liquid film coefficient for the gases, A
mated through the change in turbidity. is the surface area associated with volume V over
which gas exchange occurs) [34] and eventually
enhance the efficiency for Fe2+ oxidation in the pond.
3.3. Enhancement effect of water quality by drop On the other hand, the type of cascade aerator could
formation of the mine drainage not influence the rate constants in the oxidation pond.
Rate constants for gas exchange from the aeration exper- This also meant that the efficiency in the oxidation
iments with variables of drop height and cascade aerator pond was solely determined by the aeration efficiency.
type are illustrated in Figure 6. The rate constants only Fe concentration of the mine drainage which was
reflected a direct exchange effect with atmosphere by flowing into or out of the oxidation pond has been
gas diffusion – represented as kO2 and kCO2 in Equations depicted in Figure 7 separately in relation to Fe2+, Fe3+,
3–4 – excluding the Fe2+ oxidation effect on DO and and suspended Fe hydroxide. The mine drainage dis-
DCO2 concentrations of the mine drainage. First of all, charged into the pond had similar Fetotal concentrations
the improvement of gas exchange efficiency in the regardless of the drop height or type of cascade aerator
cascade aerator was demonstrated by the fact that the (Figure 7(a)). Feion concentration discharged from the
rate constants during cascade aeration were about 1 type B cascade aerator, however, was less than that of
order higher than those in the oxidation pond. Secondly, type A and this tendency became more distinctive as
the effect of drop height on the rate constants was insig- the drop height increased. This was due to the fact that
nificant. This revealed that the performance efficiency of the mine drainage aerated by type A directly flowed
a field-scaled cascade aerator could be estimated by the into the pond (about 5 sec per step) whereas in type B,
results of a pilot-scaled demonstration experiment inde- the water was retained for about 8 min per step in the
pendent of its drop height. Oh et al. [18] actually pre- retention pond created by the acrylic panel of each
dicted the water quality improvement of mine step. This period of retention allowed for Fe2+ to be oxi-
drainage after a 7 m drop using the rate constants for dized into Fe3+ and in turn to be precipitated as Fe(OH)3.
gas exchanges from the demonstration experiment by There are two reasons for holding the water in the
a pilot-scaled cascade aerator of 2.45 m. cascade aerator for a while to enhance the efficiency of
the oxidation pond. First, the contaminant load to be oxi-
A dized in the pond will be lessened corresponding to the
kO2 or CO2 = kL (8)
V pre-oxidized amount of Feion and, therefore, it will be
Thirdly, better effects on the rate constants by the possible to achieve the level of remediation even with
type B cascade aerator during aeration were confirmed. an oxidation pond of a smaller size. Second, and more
This suggested that the water spraying effect by type B importantly, Feion, which would be oxidized later, could
could boost the efficiency of gas exchange with atmos- be a potential negative factor for the water quality (DO,
phere by increasing the contact surface (A) in Equation pH decrease) in terms of an Feion oxidation environment

Figure 6. Rate constants for kO2 (unit: min−1) and kCO2 (unit: atm−1min−1) with different drop heights in the (a) cascade aerator and (b)
oxidation pond.
2490 C. OH ET AL.

(Equations 3–5). It was actually confirmed through exper- be improved to enhance the oxidation efficiency of
iment that the DO value of mine drainage, discharged the pond. The water quality improvement of the mine
from the type A cascade aerator with relatively higher drainage was enhanced when the drop height
Feion concentration, somewhat decreased (Figure 5(a)). became higher. Under the same condition, type B
On the other hand, type B aeration had an effect of redu- showed additional improvements due to the increased
cing O2,t and CO2,t (in Equations 3–4) before flowing rate constant for gas exchange by the spraying effect
through the aerator due to the oxidation of a consider- and the provided retention time for Fe oxidation. To
able amount of Feion. This suggested that (O2,s − O2,t ) provide an objective guideline for designing a
or (CO2,s − CO2,t ) could be maintained at a high level cascade aerator on an actual field, the aeration effect
during the aeration and this indicated the following was quantitatively evaluated in the following pro-
increase in d[O2 ]/dt and d[CO2 ]/dt. cedure. First of all, removal rate (%) over time could
The aeration process of the type B aerator consisted of be obtained by Figure 4(a) and (b) which shows the
sprayed aeration and pond retention as shown in change of Fe2+ concentration over time. If 95%
Figure 1(b). The last step (4 m) of the type B aerator removal of Fe2+ is set as the target level of remediation
only had the sprayed aeration process skipping pond (about 1.2 mg/L in the treated mine drainage), the
retention which would deteriorate the water quality. required retention time for the mine drainage from
This was confirmed by the fact that the increase rates Dongwon to be aerated with different drop heights
of DO, pH at 4 m were exceptionally bigger compared could be calculated using the relationship between
to the decreasing tendencies of the increase rate over removal rate and oxidation time (Table 2). A required
drop height in Figure 3. That is, the improvement in area (m2) of the oxidation pond to reach the remedia-
water quality by the type B cascade aerator had defi- tion target level, therefore, could be calculated
nitely been hindered by Feion oxidation. It was proved (Equation 9) using the required retention time with an
that, despite its hindrance by Feion oxidation, the type assumption that the pond was 1 m in height. Figure 8
B aerator delivered better aeration efficiency compared represents the required area of the oxidation pond
to that of the type A aerator. Finally, the better effects over the flow rate of the mine drainage inlet.
by the type B aerator on oxidation efficiency in the  3
m
pond resulted from the following two facts; increase in Time (min) × Flow
day
rate constants for gas exchange by sprayed form of aera- Required area (m2 ) =
tion and the pre-reduction of Feion during the cascade Height (m)
aeration due to the pond retention process. (9)

The above area of the oxidation pond, however, was

predicted based on the Fe2+ concentration of the
3.4. Method of enhancing the efficiency of the
treated mine drainage. Fe concentrations of different
oxidation pond
drop heights examined at the outlet are presented in
It was verified in the previous chapters that the water Figure 7(b). Although considerable amount of Feion in
quality of mine drainage flowing into the pond should the treated mine drainage had been eliminated,

Figure 7. Fe concentrations of (a) inlet and (b) outlet drainage of the oxidation pond.
 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY 2491

Figure 8. Area of the oxidation pond needed for 95% Fe2+ removal with different drop heights and types of cascade aerator; (a) type A
and (b) type B.

Table 2. Required time (min) for 95% Fe2+ removal with different drop height reached 4 m. The better effect resulted from
drop heights and types of cascade aerator. features of sprayed water and increased retention time.
Cascade aerator 0m 1m 2m 3m 4m The former could increase rate constants for gas exchange
Type A 2093 1391 1063 894 (DO and DCO2) by increasing the surface area between the
2470
Type B 1633 1347 604 332 mine drainage and atmosphere. The latter promoted Feion
oxidation in advance during cascade aeration so that
d[O2 ]/dt and d[CO2 ]/dt increased by maintaining high
approximately 10 mg/L of Fe still existed in the form levels of (O2,s − O2,t ) and (CO2,s − CO2,t ) throughout the
of suspended Fe(OH)3 even in the 4 m drop height aeration process. The Feion oxidation in advance also les-
case. The suspended Fe(OH)3 is so unstable that, sened the contaminant load in the oxidation pond and
depending on pH and ORP level, it can be re- removed the potential factor of deteriorating the water
dissolved into ion form.[35,36] Therefore, this latent quality.
contaminant should be removed before being The efficiency improvement of the oxidation pond by
released to nature. It is recommended to install a cascade aerator was quantitatively evaluated by calculat-
marshland after the oxidation pond rather than to ing the required area of the pond for fulfilling 95%
increase the retention time at the pond because Fe to removal of Fe2+. As a result, the efficiency of the oxi-
be eliminated was not in the form of ions but rather col- dation pond will show a large increase by fully exploiting
loidal particles.[37,38] the allowable topographical altitude difference with the
assistance of the cascade aerator, which increases the
contact surface and retention time of mine drainage.
4. Conclusion However, to assure the remediation efficiency of the
To improve the oxidation efficiency in the pond, enhan- passive treatment system, an installation of marshland
cing the water quality (increase in DO and pH) of mine after oxidation pond eliminating suspended Fe(OH)3
drainage flowing into the pond was crucial. Installation was recommended.
of a cascade aerator before the oxidation pond was an
effective way of enhancing the water quality of the mine
drainage. The overall efficiency of the cascade aerator Disclosure statement
increased as the drop height increased but showed differ- No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ent tendencies depending on the type of cascade aerator.
The type A cascade aerator which simply dropped the
mine drainage down to the next step could not further Funding
increase the water quality after over 2 m of drop height. This work was supported by the Mine Reclamation Corporation
The cascade aerator of type B, on the other hand, was (MIRECO) and the Basic Research Project of the Korea Institute
capable of having an increasing aeration effect until the of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).
2492 C. OH ET AL.

References [17] Kirby C, Dennis A, Kahler A. Aeration to degas CO2,

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[2] Oh C, Rhee S, Oh M, Park J. Removal characteristics of As Efficiency assessment of cascade aerator in a passive
(III) and As (V) from acidic aqueous solution by steel treatment system for Fe (II) oxidation in ferruginous
making slag. J Hazard Mater. 2012;213–214:147–155. mine drainage of net alkaline. Environmental Earth
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