Ozone Helps Treat Mine Water Run Off

Water from a clay mine near Dean, PA is flowing into Clearfield Creek. The mine, which closed 60 years ago, has polluted about 15 miles of the creek. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is exploring various ways to clean up the creek. They are evaluating a water cleanup process that uses ozone to remove solids from polluted streams.

The process involves: a self-cleaning filter, an ozone contact tank and reverse osmosis. Ozone oxidizes metals, lower overall acid levels and enhances settling of the sludge. It uses less chemical than other processes. Demonstrations of the process conducted so far have proved successful in removing metals like aluminum, calcium, iron, manganese and barium from the water and in raising pH levels.

Ozone is a strong oxidant for metals removal and enhances solids removal via micro flocculation, i.e. a process that causes particles to cling together and settle more quickly. Both properties are useful in wastewater treatment applications.

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