A coal mine in southern Poland has successfully tested a new water treatment process which desalinates wastewater and extracts minerals to protect the environment.
The treatment facility, installed in July at the Boleslaw Smialy mine in Poland's heavily industrialized Silesia region, operates with the participation of the Silesian University of Technology and is part of the EU-funded Zero Brine Project.
According to scientists, the coal mine wastewater is treated using a system of nano-filtration, reverse osmosis and electrodialysis in order to extract valuable raw materials such as sodium and magnesium chloride which are then reused.
The process is saving up to 50% of energy compared to the current best practice for water waste treatment.
The scientists behind the project say it proves that minerals and desalinated water can be extracted from industrial processes for reuse in other industries, for example, to fireproof materials in the steel industry.
Poland derives around 80% of its power production from coal-fired plant generation and for decades, wastewater from the coal mining industry has been diluted and dumped into local river systems.
According to Zero Brine, the coal mining industry in Poland discharges around 4 millions tons of sodium chloride into rivers every year damaging the environment and reducing aquatic life.
The project which is also being pilot tested in the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey, covers several industries concerned with saline waste waters including production of silica and textile.
PROJECT COORDINATOR FROM SILESIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, KRZYSZTOF MITKO, SAYING:
"In this project we want to develop a technology that will allow us to recover sodium and magnesium chloride contained in these waters, as well as desalinated water, which can later be commercially used."
PROJECT COORDINATOR FROM SILESIAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, KRZYSZTOF MITKO, SAYING:
"Mines mainly dilute this wastewater and dispose of it directly into the river. However, obtaining raw materials from them is quite difficult. We strive to achieve this by introducing innovative membrane techniques and combining them into such a technological process that produces as little waste as possible and as much valuable raw materials as possible".
ZERO BRINE PROJECT COORDINATOR, ROELOF MOLL, SAYING:
"Making new technologies available to reduce brine, which is salty water, which is now discharged to the environment and causes problems in rivers and all the water bodies where aquatic life is reduced through these emissions.
DIRECTOR OF THE "BOLESLAW SMIALY" COAL MINE IN LAZISKA GORNE, GRZEGORZ CONRAD, SAYING:
"Our desalination installation is a modern breakthrough in the desalination of waters which we will always face because mine waters are mineralised to a greater or lesser degree but they will always need to be desalinated and not, as in past years, dumped into the rivers without desalination".
19 окт 2019
