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Application of Rotating Biological Contactor Technology for Mine Effluent

Treatment and Metal Bioleaching Operations

Article · January 2003

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 Application of Rotating Biological Contactor Technology for
Mine Effluent Treatment and Metal Bioleaching Operations

A. Kapoor, O. Dinardo, W. D. Gould, A. Kuiper, J. Kawaja and P. Bédard

Mine Effluents Program CANMET – Mining and Mineral Sciences Laboratories,
Natural Resources Canada,
555 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0G1

Abstract
Rotating biological contactor (RBC) technology is commonly used for municipal and industrial
effluent treatment. RBCs have also been successfully used in the mining industry for the removal
of contaminants such as ferrous iron (Fe2+) (Nokolov et al. 2001; Olem and Unz, 1977,1980),
cyanide and its various species (Whitlock, 1995), oxalate (Brassinga et. al. 1992; Beaudette et al.
1993), and selenium (McCready et al. 1990) from mining effluents. This paper presents the results
of two on-going research projects being carried out at the Mining and Mineral Sciences
Laboratory of Natural Resources Canada: The removal of thiocyanate (CNS) and ammonium
(NH4-N) from simulated gold mill effluents and its associated rainbow trout acute toxicity, and the
oxidation of ferrous (Fe2+) to ferric (Fe3+) ion for potential applications in bioleaching operations
and acid mine drainage treatment. A four stage RBC was able to effectively degrade CNS in a
simulated effluent having a concentration of approximately 200 mg/L at a temperature of 8oC. The
resulting NH4-N was ultimately oxidized to NO3-N. A maximum CNS degradation rate of 8.9 g
CNS/m2/day was observed in Stage 1 of the RBC. The maximum NH4-N removal rate of 1.7 g
NH4-N/m2 was observed in the last stage of the RBC. The RBC was capable of removing the
rainbow trout acute CNS lethality of the feed solution. The study using a three stage RBC
effectively oxidized Fe2+ to Fe3+ at temperature of 8oC. The Fe2+ oxidation rates ranging from 63
to 146 g Fe2+/m2/day were observed under various operating conditions of flow rate, temperature
and feed Fe2+ concentration.

INTRODUCTION

Rotating biological contactors (RBC) are
attached growth biological reactors containing a
series of closely spaced circular disks made of
plastic media mounted on horizontal shafts.
Microorganisms can grow on the rotating disks
that are partially (40%) submerged in
wastewater, and rotated at one to three
revolutions per minute to alternately expose the
microorganisms to the wastewater and air.
Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram of the
RBC. The microorganisms adhere and grow on
the rotating disks, forming biofilms that degrade
organic matter and nitrogen compounds present
in the wastewater. RBCs have been commonly
used for the treatment of municipal wastewater
(US EPA, 1984). RBC technology has also been
successfully used in Canada for the removal of
organics and oxidation of ammonia to nitrate
(nitrification) from municipal wastewater.
The rotation of the RBC disks can be achieved
by a motor and drive system on each shaft or by
an air drive system with a coarse bubble diffuser
at the bottom of the tank supplying air that is
caught by the air cups attached to the disks. The
media is made of high-density polyethylene
containing UV inhibitors such as carbon black.
Individual RBC units are placed in series to
maximize the treatment efficiency. Baffles are
placed to separate the shafts into a series of
completely mixed bioreactors; each one is
referred to as a stage. The baffles used to
separate the shafts are moveable to allow the
number of stages and their sizes to be adjusted in
response to variations in process loading. The
rotation of the disks imparts a shear force to the
biofilm, keeping its thickness relatively constant
by removing the cells generated by consumption
of the substrates. Rotation of the disks also
serves to provide oxygen required for the growth
of biomass and substrate degradation. A settling
tank is normally required to remove the biomass
from the effluent. A cover made of fiberglass is
generally provided over RBC units to provide
protection against inclement weather, freezing,
and sunlight. Covers also reduce the heat loss,
allow the off-gas to be collected for odor control
and minimize algae growth. The advantages of
the RBC’s are lower energy requirements, ease
of operation, little maintenance and minimal
operator attention. Additionally, they are
resistant to toxic shock loads due to large
inventory of microorganisms on the media
(Iggleden, 1981). RBCs have been successfully
used in the mining industry for the removal of
contaminants such as ferrous iron (Fe2+)
(Nokolov et al., 2001; Olem and Unz,
1977,1980; Nakamura et al., 1986), cyanide and
its various species (Whitlock, 1995), oxalate
RBC application for thiocyanate and ammonium removal
The presence of CNS and NH4-N in gold mill
effluents results from the use of CN in the
cyanidation process. CNS is relatively stable in
tailing ponds and can be toxic to aquatic life.
CNS can degrade to cyanate (CNO) or carbonyl
sulfide (COS) depending on the degradation
pathway way and subsequently to NH4-N. NH4-
N is also formed by the natural degradation of
CN. The NH4-N is toxic to aquatic life and
consumes oxygen from the receiving
environments via the nitrification process
(oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate).
Biological treatment methods have been found
to be effective in CNS and NH4-N removal. The
effluents at gold mine sites in South Dakota,
USA and in British Columbia, Canada are being
treated by biotechnological methods and
produce non-toxic effluents. The Homestake
Mine in South Dakota has been using rotating
biological contactors (RBC) since 1984 to treat
water flows of up to 21,000 m3/day containing
CN, CNS, CNO and NH4-N (Whitlock, 1990).
The Nickel Plate Mine in British Columbia uses
a suspended growth activated sludge type
system for the removal of total and WAD CN,
CNS, NH4-N and nitrate.
The biological degradation of thiocyanate is
complex and can be presented as follows:
(Brassinga et. al., 1992; Beaudette et al., 1993),
and selenium (McCready et al., 1990) from
mining effluents.
This paper presents the results of the two on-
going projects being carried out at the Mining
and Mineral Sciences Laboratory of Natural
Resources Canada on the application of the RBC
technology in the mining industry for:
1. The treatment of gold mill effluents;
specifically for the removal of CNS and
NH4-N, and its associated rainbow trout
toxicity; and
2. The oxidation of ferrous (Fe2+) to ferric
(Fe3+) ion in leach solutions for
bioleaching operations and for the
treatment of acid mine drainage.
CNS- + 3H2O + 2O2 → HCO3- + NH4+
+ SO42- + H+
The resulting ammonia can be removed by
conversion to nitrate by a biological oxidation
process commonly referred to as “nitrification”.
The reactions involved in the nitrification
process can be represented by the following
equation (US EPA 1993):
1.0 NH4 + 1.89 O2 + 0.0805 CO2 → 0.0161
C5H7O2N + 0.952 H2O + 0.984 NO3 + 1.98 H+
The CNS oxidation to NH4-N and the
subsequent nitrification process are affected by
temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration,
and pH. The nitrification process is also
sensitive to a variety of toxic organic and
inorganic contaminants. The US EPA (1993)
manual on nitrogen control provides detailed
nitrification process descriptions and the factors
that influence the nitrification rate.
A four-stage laboratory scale RBC was used to
study the biological removal of CNS and NH4-
N. The total hydraulic capacity of the RBC was
19.2 L and each stage of it has 17 disks
(diameter = 0.26 m and thickness = 0.005 m).
The total surface area provided by the rotating
disks is 7.2 m2. Figure 2 shows the schematic
diagram of the experimental set up. The RBC
was inoculated with a culture of nitrifying
bacteria that were enriched from an activated
sludge sample collected from the City of Ottawa
municipal wastewater treatment plant and the
bacterial consortium obtained from the Nickel
Plate Mine effluent treatment plant. The feed
solution was prepared using the City of Ottawa
tap water. Potassium thiocyanate was added as
the CNS source and KH2PO4 was added to
supply phosphorus at approximately 0.7 mg/L
required for bacterial growth. The alkalinity
required by the RBC was supplied by a sodium
bicarbonate solution (15 g/L). The sodium
bicarbonate solution was mixed with the feed to
the RBC. The RBC disk rotation speed was
maintained at approximately 3 rpm.
The results presented in this paper were obtained
over a period of more than 200 days at average
hydraulic loading rates (HLR) of 0.02 m3/m2
disk area/day (approximate hydraulic retention
time, HRT of 3.0 h) and a feed CNS
concentration of approximately 200 mg/L.
Figure 3 shows the average concentrations of
CNS, NH4-N, NO2-N, NO3-N, dissolved oxygen
(D.O.), alkalinity and pH values across the four
RBC application for oxidization Fe2+ ion oxidation
Bacterial leaching has been used for the
extraction of both copper and uranium from
ores. Uranium extraction is accomplished by the
bacterial oxidation of sulfide minerals such as
pyrite to produce ferric sulfate that oxidizes and
solubilizes the uranium. During bacterial
leaching of copper ores both oxidation of the
copper sulfide minerals and oxidation by ferric
iron are involved in the copper extraction. The
oxidation of metal sulfides by ferric ions can be
represented by the following equation:
MS + 2Fe3+ ⇒ M2+ + 2Fe2+ + So
In some copper leaching systems such as the
thin layer leaching, oxygen is the limiting factor
and the production of additional oxidizing power
increases the rate of copper leaching. Leaching
stages of the RBC. Table 1 presents the CNS
degradation rates, net NH4-N generation in Stage
1 and 2 resulting from CNS degradation, net
NH4-N removal rates in Stage 3 and Stage 4,
NO3-N generation rates in g per m2 of the disk
surface area per day. The CNS degradation is
predominantly achieved in Stages 1 and 2. The
NH4-N concentration increased with CNS
degradation and peaked in Stage 2. The NH4-N
oxidation to NO3-N was achieved in Stage 3 and
Stage 4. The NH4-N oxidization consumes
alkalinity and thereby resulted in a decrease of
pH from 9.2 to approximately 7.5. The CNS and
NH4-N degradation require oxygen, as a result
the D.O. in the Stage 1, 2 and 3 were in the
range of 2.5 to 3.5 mg/L and the Stage 4 average
D.O. was approximately 4.2 mg/L.
Rainbow trout acute (96 h) lethality tests were
performed on the RBC influent and effluent
samples to determine the effectiveness of the
RBC in removing the influent toxicity. The RBC
influent exhibited an LC50 of 160 mg/L for
CNS and the RBC effluent samples exhibited
100% survival of the rainbow trout for the 96 h
period. The 96 h rainbow trout toxicity tests
indicated that the RBC was effective in
removing the acute toxicity.
rates could be enhanced by oxidizing Fe2+ to
Fe3+ externally to the leach pile using a
bioreactor containing an active population of
iron oxidizing bacteria such as Thiobacillus
ferrooxidans. This paper reports on the use of an
RBC for the oxidation of Fe2+. Figure 4 presents
a conceptual process schematic of bioleaching
operations using RBC as a ferric ion generator.
Fe2+ present in acid mine drainage could also be
oxidized to Fe3+ using a RBC. Fe2+ oxidization
to Fe3+ will allow precipitation of iron under
acidic conditions, the use of inexpensive
neutralization agents, such as limestone for acid
mine drainage treatment and may also present
opportunities to selectively remove and recover
metals.
A three-stage RBC with total hydraulic capacity
of 7.8 L was used to study the biological
oxidation of Fe2+ under low pH conditions ( pH
≈ 2.0). Each stage of the RBC consisted of 24
discs of 0.22 m diameter. The total disc surface
area in the RBC was 5.2 m2. The feed water was
prepared using the City of Ottawa tap water and
FeSO4.7H2O was used as Fe2+ source. Nutrients
such as nitrogen and phosphorus were added to
the feed water for bacterial growth by addition
of ammonium sulfate (0.08 g/L) and phosphoric
acid (0.036 mL/L of feed respectively). Sulfuric
acid was added to maintain the feed pH at 2.0.
The low temperature (8oC) studies were
conducted in a temperature-controlled room.
The RBC was inoculated using the bacterial
consortium present in the acid mine drainage
collected from a closed mine site in Ontario.
Figure 5 shows the Fe2+ concentration in the
three stages of the RBC at various operating
conditions. Figure 5A shows the efficiency of
Fe2+ oxidation for the RBC operating at HLR of
0.027 m3/m2/day (HRT ≈ 1.3 h) at average
temperatures of approximately 23oC and 8oC.
The Fe2+ oxidation efficiency of the RBC
decreased from 95% to 73% as a result of
temperature reduction to 8 oC. Olem and Unz
(1980) observed that at a temperature of ≈ 0.4oC,
the RBC Fe2+ oxidization efficiency was reduced
by 10 to 20% compared to 10oC for acid mine
drainage containing Fe2+ < 400 mg/L. Figure 5B
shows the impact of the increase in HLR from
0.027 m3/m2/day (HRT = 1.3) to 0.054
m3/m2/day (HRT = 0.65 h) on the Fe2+ oxidation
in the RBC receiving approximately 3100 mg /L
Fe2+ in the feed. The increase in HLR reduced
the Fe2+ oxidation efficiency of the RBC from
95% to 84%. The reduced efficiency is likely
due to a reduced contact time between the disk
and the liquid in the reactor. Figure 5C shows
the impact of an increase in the feed Fe2+
concentration from 3000 mg/L to 6000 mg/L on
the Fe2+ oxidization. It should be noted that the
temperature during the experiments at 6000
mg/L ranged from 16 to 22oC compared to the
experiments conducted at 3000 mg/L with
temperature ranging from 20 to 25oC. The D.O.
in the RBCs averaged about 1.7 mg/L in Stage1
and averaged approximately 3.1 mg/L in Stage
3. Table 2 shows the Fe2+ oxidization rates
observed during the above experiments. The
Fe2+ oxidation rates observed in this study
compares favorably with the rate of
approximately 91 g/m2/day observed by
Goldblatt et al. (1977).
CONCLUSIONS
RBC Application for thiocyanate and
ammonium removal
1. An RBC operating at a hydraulic
loading rate of 0.02 m3/m2 disk area/day
(approximate hydraulic retention time of
3.0 h) and a feed CNS concentration of
approximately 200 mg/L was effectively
able to degrade CNS to NH4-N. The
NH4-N produced was oxidized to NO2-
N. The NO2-N was ultimately oxidized
to NO3-N.
2. The RBC was effective in removing the
CNS and its associated acute rainbow
trout toxicity of a synthetic solution. The
RBC influent exhibited an LC50 of 160
mg/L for CNS and the RBC effluent
samples exhibited 100% survival of the
rainbow trout for the 96 h testing period.
RBC application for Fe2+ ion oxidation
1. A three stage RBC operating at a
hydraulic loading rate of 0.027 to 0.054
m3/m2/day, a temperature of 8 to 25oC
and a feed Fe2+ concentration of 3000 to
6000 mg/L achieved Fe2+ oxidization
rates ranging 63 g Fe2+/m2/day to 146 g
Fe2+/m2/day.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank Eric
Nicholson, a co-op student in the Metals in
the Environment Program at MMSL for his
help in conducting the rainbow trout tests.
The authors would also like to thank Manuel
Smeu, a Carleton University student for his
help in the experiments during his work
term in the Mine Effluents Program. The
authors would also like to thank Dr. David
Koren, Mine Effluents Program, MMSL for
his support during this project and reviewing
the manuscript. The authors would also like
to thank Patricio Riveros of MMSL for
reviewing this manuscript.
REFERENCES
• Beaudette, L., Gould, W. D., K.,
Yamazaki, H., and McCready, R. G. L.
(1993). Development of an industrial
process for oxalate biodegradation.
Proceedings of 9th Annual General
Meeting of BIOMINET, eds. W. D.
Gould, D. W. Koren, and S. Lord,
CANMET Special Publication SP93-1,
pp. 21 - 45.
• Brassinga, R. D., Fulford, G. D.,
McCready, R. G. L., Gould, W. D., and
Beaudette, L., (1992). Biodegradation of
oxalate ions in aqueous solution.
Australian Patent # 626,571.
• Goldblatt, E. L., Tunley, T. H., and
Nagy, I. F. (1977). Pilot-plant bacterial
film oxidation (Bacfox Process) of
recycled acidified uranium plant ferrous
sulphate leach solution. In: Proceedings
of the Conference on Bacterial
Leaching, Edited by W. Schwartz, GBF
Monograph Series No. 4, Verlag
Chemie, Weinheim, 1977, pp. 1175-190.
Grady C. P. L. Jr., Daigger, G. T., and
Lim, H. C. (1999). Biological
wastewater treatment. Marcel Dekker
Inc., New York.
• Iggleden, G. J. (1981). Rotating
biological contactors. Chemistry and
Industry, 13, 4 July, 458-465.
• Olem, H. and Unz, R. F. (1977). Acid
mine drainage treatment with rotating
biological contactor. Biotechnology and
Bioengineering, vol. XIX, pp.1475-
1491.
• Olem, H., and Unz, R. F. (1980).
Rotating-disc biological treatment of
acid mine drainage. Journal of Water
Pollution Control Federation, 52(2),
257-269.
• McCready, R. G. L., Salley, J., and
Gould, W. D. (1990). Biorecovery of
selenium from smelter effluents.
Proceedings of the Pacific Rim
Congress 90. Gold Coast, Queensland,
Australia, pp. 623 – 626.
• Nakamura, K., Noike, T., and
Matsumoto, J. (1986). Effect of
operation conditions on biological Fe2+
oxidation with rotating biological
contactors. Water Research, Vol. 20,
No. 1, 73-77.
• Nikolov, L., Karamanev, D., Dakov, L.,
and Popova, V. (2001). Oxidation of
ferrous iron by Thiobacillus
ferrooxidans in a full-scale rotating
biological contactor. Environmental
Progress, 20, 4, 247-250.
• Whitlock, J. L. (1990). Biological
detoxification of precious metal
processing wastewaters.
Geomicrobiology Journal, 8, 241 – 249.
• Whitlock, J. L. (1995). Bioremediation
of mine process wastewaters. Biominet
– Eleventh Annual Meeting
Proceedings, eds. L. Lortie, W. D.
Gould and S. Rajan, Natural Resource
Canada, Ottawa, pp. 23 - 29.
• US EPA. (1984). Design information on
rotating biological contactors,
EPA/600/2-84/106.
• US EPA. (1993). Nitrogen Control,
EPA/625/R-93/010.
 Figure 1: RBC process schematic (Grady et al., 1999).

Figure 2: The RBC experimental set up for the CNS/NH4-N removal project.
 250 50
NH4-N (mg/L)

200 CNS (mg/L) 40

Concentration (mg/L)

Concentration (mg/L)
150 30

100 20

50 10

0 0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff. Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff.

50 9.5

NO3-N (mg/L)
40 NO2-N (mg/L) 9.0
Concentration (mg/L)

30 8.5
pH

20 8.0

10 7.5

0 7.0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff. Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff.

5.0

500
4.5 D. O. (mg/L)
Concentration (mg/L)

Concentration (mg/L)

4.0
400

3.5

300
3.0

2.5 Alkalinity ( as CaCO3 mg/L)

200

2.0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff. Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 - Eff.

Figure 3: The treatment efficiency of the RBC in the removal of CNS and its degradation
products (Hydraulic loading rate ≈ 0.02 m3/m2/day, hydraulic retention time ≈ 3 h and
temperature ≈ 8oC).
Figure 4: The application of RBC as a ferric ion generator for a heap bioleaching process.
 3500
Fe(2+) Concentration, mg/L

HLR = 0.027m3/m2/day
3000
Fe(2+), 23 oC
2500 Fe(2+), 8 oC
2000

1500

1000

500

0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3- Eff.
Figure 5A

3500
Fe(2+) Concentration, mg/L

3000
Fe(2+), 20 to 25 oC, HLR = 0.027m3/m2/day
2500 Fe(2+), 16 to 22 oC, HLR = 0.054 m3/m2/day
2000

1500

1000

500

0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3- Eff.

Figure 5B

7000
Fe(2+) Concentration, mg/L

6000 HLR = 0.027m3/m2/day

5000 Fe(2+), 20 - 25 oC, Influent Fe2+ = 6000mg/L

Fe(2+), 16 - 22oC, Influent Fe2+ = 3000 mg/L
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
Influent Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3- Eff.

Figure 5C

Figure 5: The Fe2+ oxidization in the three RBC stages at various operating conditions.
 Table 1: CNS removal, NH4-N generation/removal and NO3-N generation rates at RBC
operating conditions of: feed CNS ≈ 200 mg/L, hydraulic loading rate ≈ 0.02 m3/m2/day,
hydraulic retention time ≈ 3 h and temperature ≈ 8 oC.

Rates (g/m2/day) Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4

CNS - Net Degradation 8.9 5.1 0.35 0.02

NH4-N - Net generation 2.3 0.95
NH4-N - Net removal 1.3 1.7
NO3-N Net generation 0.01 0.19 1.2 1.6

Table 2: Fe2+ oxidization rates for the RBC at various experimental conditions.

Experimental Conditions Fe Oxidization Rates (g Fe2+/m2/day)

Overall
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 - Rate for
Effluent RBC
HLR = 0.027 m3/m2/day, Fe2+ 91.0 116 25.6 77
= 3000 mg/L, Temperature =
23 oC
HLR = 0.027 m3/m2/day, Fe2+ 62.7 79.4 46.7 63
= 3000 mg/L, Temperature =
8 oC
HLR = 0.054 m3/m2/day, Fe2+ 139.6 223.5 74.5 146
= 3000 mg/L, Temperature =
16 to 22 oC
HLR = 0.027 m3/m2/day, Fe2+ 115.2 172.7 121.3 136
= 6000 mg/L, Temperature =
16 to 22 oC

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