Brianna Geiner

Professor Ramakrishnan
12/6/2016
Environmental Systems 1
AMD Paper

Surveying Data from the Minersville Passive Treatment System

Craters of hollowed out earth and rock litter the eastern Pennsylvanias beautiful

landscape. These cavernous passages belong to the old but not forgotten mining age that

frontiered the industrial revolution within the state in the 1800s. Mines dug for the purpose of

obtaining coal and various ores supplied the United States with the power to exceed Great

Britain, France and Germany in industrial production by the 1900s (Andrews 2011). Though

successful in strengthening and boosting the national economy, various drawback now plague us

today, not only on the east coast but around the world. Acid mine drainage occurs when a mining

sight has exposed the rock layers within the earth to water and air causing highly acidic leaching

to enter the water. The process starts when the mineral pyrite is exposed to water and air due to

the mining out of ores and minerals. This causes a reaction leading to the formation of sulfuric

acid (H2OSO4) which triggers other chemical reactions. (Hedin 1994)

2 FeS2 (s) + 7 O2 (g) + 2 H2O (I) 2 Fe2+(aq) + 4 SO4-2(aq) + 4 H+(aq)

(Chemical equation of pyrite rock reacting with oxygen and water forming Ferrous Iron, Sulfate and strong acidity)

The discharging of Ferrous Iron and dissolved Sulfate will lead to the dissolving of other metals

like Aluminum and Manganese found in the various layers of rock and clay that the seepage

leaches over. Then these dissolved metals leak into a water source and contaminate it with high

pH due to the acidity. Variations of cleanup and environmental restoration is being enacted to try

and fix the issues that have arisen such as aerobic and anaerobic wetlands, anoxic limestone

drains and open limestone channels. The goal of these processes is to neutralize this highly

contaminated water and get it back into the nearby streams and water ways.
Figure 1: The schematic plan
for the treatment system for
Miners Run depicting the
Horizontal-flow Limestone
Bed (dark blue), the Settling
pond to its left (light blue) and
the second settling pond and
wetland (purple), while the
aerobic wetland lies of the left
(green).
 Figure 2: The distribution
of coal mines across
Pennsylvania including the
Broad Top coal field
(circled) in Huntington
County.
An acid mine drainage site known as the Minersville Passive Treatment System in Broad Top

Pennsylvania (Fg. 2), was subjected to a horizontal-flow limestone be with a settling pond and

nearby aerobic wetland (Fg. 1). The biggest repercussion of acid mine drainage is the destruction

and havoc it unleashes on the environment around it. The high acidity of the now polluted water

can poison the environment, the vegetation and organisms which take up residence in there.

Macroinvertebrates that live within the streams and creeks are crucial to determining the health

of the ecosystem due to their sensitivity to pollution. Scientists use them to understand the health

and quality of a certain ecosystem, which can translate into discovering the status of AMD

impaired water ways. Other organisms that live or receive water from the area are now impacted

like fish, amphibians, and other aquatic life.

Materials and Methods

The horizontal-flow treatment system releases crystal clear contaminated water from a drainage

pipe and seeps into the limestone bed. While similar to an anaerobic wetland, it has an added

drainage system that forces the AMD into a direct contact with limestone rock.

CaCO3(S) + H3O+ (aq) Ca+2(aq) + HCO3-(aq) + H2O(aq) Limestone Rock

It then travels over and under the sections of limestone rock, evening the ware and tare of the

rocks and passively treating the water. After the water flows around the limestone, it goes to the

setting pond a few meters away. (Fg. 3) As the AMD waters flows downward through the

organic layer, essential functions are performed: dissolved oxygen is removed by aerobic

bacteria utilizing biodegradable organic compounds as energy sources, and sulfate-reducing

bacteria generate alkalinity and sequester metals as sulfides. (Zipper, 2011) In the settling pond,

water goes to lay after the limestone treatment or over to the Aluminum pond area where layers

of Aluminum have laid and coated the pond, giving a light blue color to the water. Water is then
 piped over to an area with meter of plant material and vegetation before being released into

miners creak.

Figure 3: The limestone treatment system (green) depicting the directional flow from released source of acidic water (red).

The overall strategy for treatment is to increase the pH and increase alkalinity by using the

limestone which is dissolved by the acidic water and forms neutral water plus bicarbonate ion.

Settling ponds allow for the prevention of metals from entering the streams by providing oxygen

to allow for the settling of particulates. At the limestone bed, several students sampled and

collected the AMD from the horizontal flow for testing. Various assessments were analyzed like

alkalinity, acidity and pH. Alkalinity is carried out by titrating with a strong acid, which allows

for the measurement of the AMDs capacity to neutralize an added alkaline component. The

appearance of dissolved metals in the water like Iron, Aluminum and Manganese is the source of

acidity when they release H+ ions. (see equations 1,2,3)

 Iron: Fe+3 + 2 H2O FeOOH(S) + 3 H+ (eq. 1)

Aluminum: Al+3+ 3 H2O Al(OH)3(S) + 3 H+ (eq. 2)

Manganese: Mn2+ + 0.25 O2 + 1.5 H2O MnOOH(S) + 2 H+ (eq. 3)

Results

After completing the tests, the final results of the analysis were recorded and categorized for

Minersville Passive Treatment System and Minersville Wetland (Table 1). The AMD source has

a pH of 3.05, a very high acidic level, and an alkalinity reading of 0. This concludes that no life

can be sustained within this water

and shall harm the surrounding

ecosystem. Although leaching is a

naturally occurring process, the

level and scale that this field is

subjected to is highly damaging and

destructive to the environment.

After the AMD is treated through

the limestone, the outlet has an

Figure 4: The Minersville Settling Pond displaying the particulates
of Aluminum that have settled at the bottom.
improved pH of 6.9 and alkalinity

of 91.8 mg/L of CaCo3. This shows that the treatment system is successful in its endeavors to

neutralize the acidity. The dissolved metal count for Iron dropped while the numbers for

Aluminum and Manganese stayed, I believe this is because these metals will be filtered out when

they either settle in the pond (Fg. 5) or in further processing through the organic layer of plant

material. In the Aerobic Wetland, levels started out at 7.21 pH and an alkalinity level of 74.1
 Minersville Passive Treatment Minersville
System Wetland
Horizontal-flow Limestone Bed Aerobic Wetland
with Settling Pond
Inlet Water Quality pH 3.05 7.21

Alkalinity 0 74.1 mg/L of CaCo3

Metals Fe: 2 mg/L Al: 19.1 mg/L Fe: 1 mg/L
Mn: 2.7 mg/L Al: 0.2 mg/L

Outlet Water Quality pH 6.9 7.4

Alkalinity 91.8 mg/L of CaCo3 73.5 mg/L of CaCo3
Metals Fe: 0.3 mg/L Al: 19.1 mg/L Fe: 0.3 mg/L
Mn: 2.7 mg/L Al: 0.2 mg/L

Table 1: Data collected from the Minersville passive treatment system and the Minersville Wetland.

mg/L of CaCo3. The outlet showed a water quality of raised pH to 7.4 and the alkalinity dropped

to 73. 4 mg/L of CaCo3. The evidence of decreased levels of Iron from 1 mg/L to 0.3 mg/L is

due to the addition of oxygen (O2) and settling of Iron Hydroxide.

Discussion

Acid mine drainage, caused by the leaching of rocks due to the exposure of oxygen and water,

cause a harmful increase in dissolved metals within water sources. This leads to inhabitable

ecosystems and decreased biodiversity, yet this can be reversed by the use of various water

treatments. The Minersville Passive Treatment System and Minersville Wetland of the Broad

Top field are successfully increasing the alkalinity and improving the pH of the water in the

ecosystem by using limestone rock to neutralize the water, settling ponds to increase oxygen

levels and lower iron hydroxide and organic material as a final filter to this passive system.
Citations:

Andrews, Thomas G. "Coal and the Industrial Revolution." Teachinghistory.org. (2011) Roy
Rosenzweig Center for History and George Mason University, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Cravotta, Charles A., III. "Size and Performance of Anoxic Limestone Drains to Neutralize
Acidic Mine Drainage." Journal of Environment Quality 33.3 (2004): n. pag. Web. 6 Dec. 2016.

Hedin, Robert S., George R. Watzlaf, and Robert W. Nairn. "Passive Treatment of Acid Mine
Drainage with Limestone." Journal of Environment Quality 23.6 (1994): 1338. Web. 6 Dec.
2016.

Zipper, Carl, and Jeff Skousen. "Passive Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage." Acid Mine
Drainage, Rock Drainage, and Acid Sulfate Soils (2014): 339-53. West Virginia University.
Virginia University, 2011. Web.