Caraballo Monge, Manuel AntonioMacías Suárez, FranciscoRötting, Tobías S.Nieto Liñán, José MiguelAyora, Carlos2024-02-072024-02-072011Caraballo, M. A., Macías, F., Rötting, T. S., Nieto, J. M., & Ayora, C. (2011). Long term remediation of highly polluted acid mine drainage: A sustainable approach to restore the environmental quality of the Odiel river basin. In Environmental Pollution (Vol. 159, Issue 12, pp. 3613–3619). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.08.0030269-74911873-6424 (Elerctrónico)https://hdl.handle.net/10272/23141During 20 months of proper operation the full scale passive treatment in Mina Esperanza (SW Spain) produced around 100 mg/L of ferric iron in the aeration cascades, removing an average net acidity up to 1500 mg/L as CaCO3 and not having any significant clogging problem. Complete Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ti and V removal from the water was accomplished through almost the entire operation time while Fe removal ranged between 170 and 620 mg/L. The system operated at a mean inflow rate of 43 m3/day achieving an acid load reduction of 597 g·(m2 day)−1, more than 10 times higher than the generally accepted 40 g·(m2 day)−1 value commonly used as a passive treatment system designing criteria. The high performance achieved by the passive treatment system at Mina Esperanza demonstrates that this innovative treatment design is a simple, efficient and long lasting remediation option to treat highly polluted acid mine drainage.engAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/Acid mine drainagePassive treatment systemIberian Pyrite BeltSchwertmanniteHydrobasaluminitejournal article10.1016/j.envpol.2011.08.003open access33 Ciencias Tecnológicas