A concrete reactive barrier for acid mine drainage treatment

Ekolu, Stephen O.; Azene, Firehiwot; Diop, Souleymane

doi:10.1680/wama.13.00035

Cited by 28 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For groundwater, the conditions suggestive of potential acid attack are water of pH ≤ 5.0, total acidity of ≥ 25 mg per 100 g of soil, and a sufficient groundwater rate of replenishment (Earlie & Callaghan 1988;Bearly 1980). The acid will typically attack and destroy the concrete surface, but the latter will in turn tend to neutralise the acid due to the high alkalinity of concrete (Ekolu et al 2013;Makhloufia et al 2014). A fresh supply of acid will launch further attacks progressively into the interior of concrete (Woodson 2009;Attiogbe & Rizkalla 1988).…”

Section: Acid Attack In Concretementioning

confidence: 99%

Disintegration of concrete construction induced by acid mine drainage attack

Ekolu

Diop²,

Azene

et al. 2016

J. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng.

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This paper presents findings from microanalytical investigation conducted on disintegrated concrete that had been used to construct a weir within a coal mine in South Africa. The concrete was in contact with polluted mine water, commonly referred to as acid mine drainage (AMD). Accordingly, the weir had been exposed to AMD decant which led to disintegration of concrete due to chemical attack. Investigations were conducted by optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The field samples examined consisted of soft, broken concrete chunks and a whitish powdery substance that had crystallised and formed a surface coating on certain cracked locations on the deteriorated concrete. No evidence of pyrite oxidation was found in the investigation. The observed deterioration is discussed in relation to acid attack mechanism and its possible co-existence with external sulphate attack process.

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Section: Acid Attack In Concretementioning

confidence: 99%

Disintegration of concrete construction induced by acid mine drainage attack

Ekolu

Diop²,

Azene

et al. 2016

J. S. Afr. Inst. Civ. Eng.

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“…There then follows a paper by Ali et al (2014) on water resources modelling in the Blue Nile, after which Bieroza et al (2014) address matters relating to the stable isotopic composition of raw and treated water in the UK. The international character of the authorship is also reflected within individual author groups in most cases, with international case studies often being worked on by authors from a range of countries, sharing ideas on best practice.The issue starts with a contribution from Ekolu et al (2014), in which they address the issue of how to treat contaminated minewater, focusing on a South African case. In particular, they focus on acid mine drainage where over time the pyrites from abandoned mining operations react with moisture and oxygen in the atmosphere, and the resulting mine water is highly acidic, causing problems for any nearby receiving waters.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…As in many countries where a single large catchment covers many international territories, decisions on water resources must be guided by the proper scientific understanding of the science and engineering driving water availability and water demand, both of which are in a state of continuous development. Similar to Ekolu et al (2014), Ali et al (2014) fundamentally make related points about the long-term sustainability of water resources for a range of different uses.The final full research paper discusses the stable isotopic composition of fresh water, which according to Bieroza et al (2014) has received little attention to date in comparison with similar studies of precipitation. They demonstrate how important is the effect of catchment controls on the stable isotopic composition of raw waters at the inlets to 16 different water treatment works in the UK.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The papers relate to a range of issues covering hydraulics, hydrology and water quality, all offering a practical view, and therefore of use to civil engineers. The issue begins with a contribution on the use of a permeable reactive barrier to treat acid mine water in South Africa (Ekolu et al, 2014), followed by a contribution by Dhakal et al (2014) on the ongoing development of the modified unit hydrograph method. There then follows a paper by Ali et al (2014) on water resources modelling in the Blue Nile, after which Bieroza et al (2014) address matters relating to the stable isotopic composition of raw and treated water in the UK.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Editorial

Mitchell¹

2014

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

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This month's issue of Water Management contains four full research papers, two discussions and a book review. It is instructive to note that in these few papers, contributions have been made by scientists and engineers from eight different countries, and a wide diversity of different fields and employers within the water engineering field, illustrating the diversity of the interests in this journal. The papers relate to a range of issues covering hydraulics, hydrology and water quality, all offering a practical view, and therefore of use to civil engineers. The issue begins with a contribution on the use of a permeable reactive barrier to treat acid mine water in South Africa (Ekolu et al., 2014), followed by a contribution by Dhakal et al. (2014) on the ongoing development of the modified unit hydrograph method. There then follows a paper by Ali et al. (2014) on water resources modelling in the Blue Nile, after which Bieroza et al. (2014) address matters relating to the stable isotopic composition of raw and treated water in the UK. The international character of the authorship is also reflected within individual author groups in most cases, with international case studies often being worked on by authors from a range of countries, sharing ideas on best practice.The issue starts with a contribution from Ekolu et al. (2014), in which they address the issue of how to treat contaminated minewater, focusing on a South African case. In particular, they focus on acid mine drainage where over time the pyrites from abandoned mining operations react with moisture and oxygen in the atmosphere, and the resulting mine water is highly acidic, causing problems for any nearby receiving waters. Their method uses a novel permeable reactive barrier to raise the pH of the minewater. Although their results must be considered preliminary, it is clear that the use of granite aggregates in particular has a very favourable outcome in this respect.It is interesting to note that there is still a considerable amount of research interest in the rational method, first proposed around 150 years ago and still being developed to suit the engineering applications used by drainage engineers around the world. This offering by Dhakal et al. (2014) is an attempt by them to develop the method for a trapezoidal unit hydrograph where the rainfall duration is less than the time of concentration of the catchment. By examining data from runoff events in Texas, the authors were able to demonstrate the proficiency of their approach against that of other established methods. Clearly, such an approach is of interest in the UK and elsewhere where there are concerns about the increased incidence of prolonged rainfall events of higher intensity than for what the drainage infrastructure was designed. Ali et al. (2014) assess the water resources of the Blue Nile catchment using a one-dimensional model. Readers will be interested to note that their model is underpinned by a large data set of field measurements that can sometimes be missing from studies of this ty...

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