Useful nanoparticles from mining waste and acid mine drainage

Abstract

Mining waste can generate environment pollution including acid mine drainage (AMD). AMD is dangerous for its surroundings and can pollute surface and groundwater it is contacting with. Nanomaterials are advanced materials used in all fields of human activity and development. However, their production is still expensive and may pollute the environment due to the chemicals’ used and/or production of the energy needed for their synthesis. A smart solution could be use of mining waste and AMD to produce nanomaterials with properties similar to the properties of nanomaterials obtained from clean chemicals. Thus both waste will be valorised / decontaminated and useful and needed materials produced. This paper presents production of nanoparticles and nanomaterials from mining waste and AMD with emphasis on iron- and copper-based materials, as well as some applications of the obtained materials.