Effective Parameter Predictions in Metals Transport from the Zanjan Zinc Mine Tailings using PHREEQC
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Effective Parameter Predictions in Metals Transport from the Zanjan Zinc Mine Tailings using PHREEQC Ali Motalebi Damuchali • Gholamreza Asadollahfardi Ahmad Khodadadi
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Received: 4 May 2012 / Accepted: 6 August 2012 / Published online: 17 August 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract The effects of grain size distribution, initial flow rate, and initial pH were simulated using PHREEQC to determine how these factors affect the transport of Cd, Ni, and Mn from the tailings of the Zanjan zinc (Iran) leaching plant. Not surprisingly, lower pH, higher flows, and smaller effective particle size increased metal transport. The simulation results generally agreed well with results from a previously conducted column study. Keywords Geochemical modeling Sensitivity analysis Metal transport PHREEQC Mine tailing Zanjan
Introduction The Zanjan zinc leaching plant, located 12 km from Zanjan, Iran, processes ore from the affiliated Anguran mine into zinc sheet metal. The tailings or ‘‘cake’’ from this operation are enriched in nickel (Ni) and cadmium (Cd). The objective of this study was to determine how pH, flow rate, and grain size distribution affected Ni, Cd, and manganese (Mn) transport from these tailings, using the PHREEQC geochemical model. Seuntjens et al. (2002) studied how physical and chemical properties affected field-scale Cd transport in a heterogeneous soil profile; using Monte Carlo simulations, they
demonstrated that variations in field-scale Cd flux were dominated by variations in deposition rate and the parameters of the Freundlich sorption isotherm. Concas et al. (2005) concluded that a decrease in pH increased metal dissolution and transport from mine tailings. Tipping et al. (2006) used the CHUM-AM model to investigate the behavior of atmospherically-deposited metals in Cumbria, UK and concluded that the principal processes controlling cationic metals are competitive partitioning to soil organic matter, chemical interactions in solution, and chemical weathering. Michel et al. (2007) applied mathematical and empirical models to investigate Ni and Cd transport in silty and sandy soils and concluded that a decrease in pH increases metals transport in acidic soils. Van der Grift and Griffoen (2007) investigated Cd and Zn leaching from polluted soil using unsaturated and saturated zone flow and reactive transport models and concluded that metal contamination depended on surface water load, geohydrologic and geologic structure, soil type, and dominant land use. Hanna et al. (2009) used PHREEQC to study zinc and lead transport in soils and concluded that the model can predict metal transport in acidic conditions, and that decreasing pH increases metal transport. Gordon et al. (2009) modeled Ni and Cd transport and found that decreasing pH increases Ni and Cd transport in silt and sandy soils. Horvath et al. (2009) showed that column leaching tests can be effectively used to investigate metal transport from mine tailings.
A. Motalebi Damuchali G. Asadollahfardi (&) Kharazmi Un
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