Treatment of acid mine drainage by sulfate reducing bacteria with iron in bench scale runs.

In order to treat acid mine drainage (AMD) effectively using sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) at high concentration of sulfate and heavy metals, Fe(0) was added to enhance the activity of SRB. When AMD was treated by SRB and Fe(0) at 25 °C, more than 61% of sulfate was removed and the effluent pH was improved from 2.75 to 6.20 during the operation. Cu(2+) was removed effectively with the removal efficiency at 99%, while only 86% of Fe(2+) was removed during the AMD treatment, without conspicuous change of Mn(2+) in the effluent in the process.