2.5. Treatment of Acid Mine Drainage
The efficiency of zeolite Na-P1 in removing the ions in an AMD
sample was evaluated in two stages: (1) The AMD-RS sample (from
CRM) was treated with commercial grade zeolite Na-P1 (IQE) at
different doses of 10 and 20 g L1. The experiment was conducted
under conditions similar to those applied for CEC, at ambient temperature
with 30 min of agitation. (2) The AMD-RS sample was
treated with the synthesized zeolite in reactor B (15 zeolitization
test) at a dose of 10 g L1, under the same conditions used in the
treatment with the commercial zeolite. This zeolite was chosen
for its high CEC value, which is representative of the synthesized
samples. Soluble metal concentrations were measured in the
AMD by flame atomic absorption spectrometry – FAAS (Varian
SpectrAA 55 spectrometer) before and after contact with zeolite.
Cations and anions were determined using ion chromatography
(Dionex 500).