Laboratory Study of the Electrokinetic Method to Remove Iron Metal from Esfordi Mine Tailings

Mining activities have resulted in a large amount of mineral tailings, which are potentially hazardous metals that contaminate the soils surrounding the mines. Because of the negative effects of potentially toxic elements on natural ecosystems, efficient solutions for soil and mineral tailings remediation are required. Several tailings samples were taken from various parts of the esfordi mine to investigate the efficiency of electrokinetics.Among the persistent pollutants in the soil are heavy metals that are either naturally present in the soil or result from human activities such as mining and industrial activities in the soil. The total concentrations of soil elements were then determined using the standard ICP method Therefore, it is necessary to provide efficient solutions for remediating the mine soil and tailings. In this study, the electrokinetic (EK) method was used to improve iron-polluted soil. For the efficiency of electrokinetic remediation, four types of electrolyte solutions were used, which included distilled water, 0.1M acetic acid, 0.1M nitric acid, and 0.1M hydrochloric acid. All experiments were performed within 24 hours and the potential difference was considered constant and equal to 2V/cm. Among the acids used as electrolytes, hydrochloric acid, with an efficiency of 27%, had the highest efficiency in removing iron metal from Esfordi Mine tailings. However, the lowest efficiency belonged to distilled water with 8.2%.

Laboratory Study of the Electrokinetic Method to Remove Iron Metal from Esfordi Mine Tailings Keywords:

Soil Remediation , Electrokinetic , Mine tailings , Iron