Abstract
Industrial processes, such as smelting and mining, lead to antimony (Sb) contamination, which poses an environmental and human health risk. In this study, the energy consumption and environmental impacts of a passive biological treatment system were quantitatively evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA), and the results were compared with that of an adsorption purification system. The results showed that the biosystem had a lower energy consumption compared with the adsorption system, with an energy savings of 27.39%. The environmental impacts of the bioreactor were also lower regarding acidification, ecotoxicity, carcinogens, climate change, resource depletion, and respiratory effects. The construction resulted in the most energy consumption (99%) for the passive bioreactor. Therefore, adopting environmentally friendly construction materials could make the biosystem a more energy-efficient option. Results demonstrated that the bioreactor in this research can have great potential for Sb mine drainage applications in terms of energy savings and environmental remediation without diminishing performance. The study findings can be useful for deciding the most energy effective process for mine drainage remediation. In addition, the identification of the energy and environmental impacts of the processes provide valuable information for the design of future systems that consume less materials and utilize new construction materials.
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Funding
This research was supported by the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2020GDASYL-20200302007, 2019GDASYL-0103052, 2020GDASYL-20200103088, and 2019GDASYL-0301002), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou (202002020072), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41771301), the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (2017BT01Z176), Guangdong Introducing Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents (2017GC010570), the High-level Leading Talent Introduction Program of GDAS (2016GDASRC-0103), and Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (2019B121205006).
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Wang, X., Ning, Z., Sun, W. et al. Energy and environmental impact assessment of a passive remediation bioreactor for antimony-rich mine drainage. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 35040–35050 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09816-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09816-8