Seasonal variation in water quality and evaluation of optimal iron removal conditions in acid mine drainage at A mine, Japan
Abstract
Acid mine drainage (AMD) often contains high concentration of iron (Fe), which can exceed 100 mg/L, while speciation and precipitation are key factors controlling the removal efficiency of Fe and other elements. This study monitored seasonal variations in AMD quality at A mine, Japan (pH: 2.6–3.2, Total-Fe: 128–162 mg/L), and found the dominant dissolved Fe species shifted from ferrous ion (Fe(II) aq ) in summer to ferric ion (Fe(III) aq ) in winter. Neutralization experiments using simulated AMD containing either Fe(II) aq or Fe(III) aq revealed that initial Fe speciation had little effect on arsenic and copper removal efficiency at this site. Furthermore, the reaction experiments using natural AMD in the presence or absence of Fe precipitates (5 v/v%) revealed the Fe(II) aq oxidation rate was 3 × 10 ⁵ and 8 × 10 ⁵ times higher in the presence of Fe precipitates at pH 3.0 and 3.5, respectively. Fe(II) aq oxidation was reduced substantially when using autoclaved Fe precipitates, suggesting that Fe(II) aq oxidation might be enhanced by processes associated with Fe precipitates, including microbial activity, rather than by homogeneous chemical oxidation alone. Therefore, promoting interaction between AMD and Fe precipitates, together with slight pH adjustment, could be effective for Fe removal from AMD at A mine.
Related
- Numerical study on infill fracturing of mature wells under free-drainage boundary conditions
- Seasonal variation of ecosystem processes in a large Arctic lake
- Application of spectroscopic and multispectral imaging technologies on the assessment of ready-to-eat pineapple quality: A performance evaluation study of machine learning models generated from two commercial data analytics tools
- Evaluation of the high-quality development of graduate education in mining engineering based on ISM and Bayesian networks
- Multimodal Sensor Fusion for Non-Destructive Tea Quality Evaluation: Deep Learning-Enabled Methods, Applications, and Challenges
BibTeX
@article{fuchida2026seasonal,
title = {{Seasonal variation in water quality and evaluation of optimal iron removal conditions in acid mine drainage at A mine, Japan}},
author = {Shigeshi Fuchida and Aoi Nakamura and Seiya Kato and Hiroki Ito and Yoshiyuki Ohara and Risa Kawahara and Tsubasa Otake and Hiroko Makita},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-73325-w},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73325-w},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Seasonal variation in water quality and evaluation of optimal iron removal conditions in acid mine drainage at A mine, Japan
AU - Shigeshi Fuchida
AU - Aoi Nakamura
AU - Seiya Kato
AU - Hiroki Ito
AU - Yoshiyuki Ohara
AU - Risa Kawahara
AU - Tsubasa Otake
AU - Hiroko Makita
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-73325-w
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-73325-w
AB - Acid mine drainage (AMD) often contains high concentration of iron (Fe), which can exceed 100 mg/L, while speciation and precipitation are key factors controlling the removal efficiency of Fe and other elements. This study monitored seasonal variations in AMD quality at A mine, Japan (pH: 2.6–3.2, Total-Fe: 128–162 mg/L), and found the dominant dissolved Fe species shifted from ferrous ion (Fe(II) aq ) in summer to ferric ion (Fe(III) aq ) in winter. Neutralization experiments using simulated AMD containing either Fe(II) aq or Fe(III) aq revealed that initial Fe speciation had little effect on arsenic and copper removal efficiency at this site. Furthermore, the reaction experiments using natural AMD in the presence or absence of Fe precipitates (5 v/v%) revealed the Fe(II) aq oxidation rate was 3 × 10 ⁵ and 8 × 10 ⁵ times higher in the presence of Fe precipitates at pH 3.0 and 3.5, respectively. Fe(II) aq oxidation was reduced substantially when using autoclaved Fe precipitates, suggesting that Fe(II) aq oxidation might be enhanced by processes associated with Fe precipitates, including microbial activity, rather than by homogeneous chemical oxidation alone. Therefore, promoting interaction between AMD and Fe precipitates, together with slight pH adjustment, could be effective for Fe removal from AMD at A mine.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -