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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Heavy Metals in the Environment

Use of Ochre from an Abandoned Metal Mine in the South East of Ireland for Phosphorus Sequestration from Dairy Dirty Water

^a Teagasc, Johnstown Castle, Environmental Research Centre, County Wexford, Rep. of Ireland
^b Dep. of Civil Engineering, National Univ. of Ireland, Galway, Rep. of Ireland

^* Corresponding author (owen.fenton{at}teagasc.ie).

Received for publication May 10, 2008. Ochre found at coal mine drainage sites in the United Kingdom shows a high phosphorus (P) retention capacity with little mobilization of metals. This indicates that ochre has the potential to adsorb P from agricultural wastewaters for possible use as a fertilizer. Little research has focused on the ability of metal mine ochre to sequester P in an environmentally sustainable way. Untreated acid mine drainage from an abandoned copper-sulfur mine in the Avoca-Avonmore catchment in the south east of Ireland results in extensive low-value ochre deposition. In this study, P-amended water (50 mL) was mixed with this ochre (2.5 g) in batch experiments, and a maximum P adsorption capacity, calculated from the Langmuir equation, of between 16 and 21 g P kg^–1 was calculated. However, mobilization of heavy metals from Avoca ochre in distilled, surface, and dirty water batch experiments was observed. This mobilization may inhibit ochre's use in P removal from wastewaters.

Abbreviations: AMD, acid mine drainage • TP, total phosphorus • XRD, X-ray diffraction

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				O. Fenton, M. G. Healy, M. Rodgers, and D. O Huallachain Site-specific P absorbency of ochre from acid mine-drainage near an abandoned Cu-S mine in the Avoca-Avonmore catchment, Ireland Clay Minerals, March 1, 2009; 44(1): 113 - 123. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]