Recovery of rare-earth elements and elemental sulfur from acid mine drainage

• Grant number: 18/10331-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2018
• End date: August 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Environmental Sanitation
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Zaiat
• Grantee: Renata de Bello Solcia Guerrero
• Supervisor: Bruce e Rittmann
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Arizona State University, Tempe (ASU), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/18976-0 - WASTEWATER POST-TREATMENT FOR NITROGEN COMPOUNDS REMOVAL USING A HORIZONTAL ANOXIC-AEROBIC REACTOR FEEDING WITH BIOGAS AND AIR, BP.PD

Abstract

The present project aims at the granting of the " Research Internships Abroad" (BEPE), associated to the posdoc project "Wastewater post-treatment for nitrogen compounds removal using a horizontal anoxic-aerobic reactor feeding biogas and air" with FAPESP financial support (process number 2015/18976-0). The present proposal consists of the study of the treatment of acid mine drainage (AMD) associated to rare earth elements (REE) and elemental sulfur (S0) recovery. The relationship between both projects is elemental-sulfur production and recovery from different sources (biogas and AMD) using a similar reactor configuration. Acid mine drainage (AMD) can cause serious environmental impact due to its acidity, high toxic metals concentration, and high sulfate content, and interest in recovery of rare earth elements from AMD is increasing due their role in rechargeable batteries, permanent magnets, lamp phosphors, catalysts, etc. The main goal of this project is to study the treatment of AMD using sulfate-reducing bacteria to convert sulfate to sulfide under anaerobic conditions, associated to the challenge of recover REE by precipitation with sulfide. Additionally, it is desirable to recover the residual sulfide as elemental sulfur by favoring the partial oxidation of sulfide under oxygen-limitation conditions.