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Environmental Geochemistry and Acid Mine Drainage Evaluation of an Abandoned Coal Waste Pile at the Alborz-Sharghi Coal Washing Plant, NE Iran

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Abstract

In this paper, an abandoned waste coal pile, which is resulted from Alborz-Sharghi coal washing plant, NE of Iran was mineralogically and geochemically characterized to evaluate pyrite oxidation, acid mine drainage (AMD) generation, and trace element mobility. After digging ten trenches and vertical sampling, a quantitative method including the atomic absorption test, and the quality-based methods including optical study were carried out for determination of pyrite fractions in the waste pile. The geochemical results revealed that the fraction of remaining pyrite increased with depth, indicating that pyrite oxidation is limited to the shallower depths of the pile which were confirmed by variations of sulfate, pH, EC, and carbonate with depth of the pile. To evaluate the trend of trace elements and mineralogical constituents of the waste particles, the samples were analyzed by using XRD, ICP-MS, and ICP-OES methods. The results showed the secondary and neutralizing minerals comprising gypsum have been formed below the oxidation zone. Besides, positive values of net neutralization potential indicated that AMD generation has not taken in the waste pile. In addition, variations of trace elements with depth reveal that Pb and Zn exhibited increasing trends from pile surface toward the bottom sampling trenches while another of them such as Cu and Ni had decreasing trends with increasing depth of the waste pile.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the technical supports provided by the Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) and Shahrood University of Technology. The authors are also grateful to the Alborz-Sharghi Coal Company for supporting this research, and would also like to thank anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments in improving the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mining Engineering, Hamedan University of Technology (HUT), Hamadan, Iran

    Behshad Jodeiri Shokri

  2. School of Mining, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Faramarz Doulati Ardejani

  3. Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

    Hamidreza Ramazi

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  1. Behshad Jodeiri Shokri
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  2. Faramarz Doulati Ardejani
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  3. Hamidreza Ramazi
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Correspondence to Behshad Jodeiri Shokri.

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Jodeiri Shokri, B., Doulati Ardejani, F. & Ramazi, H. Environmental Geochemistry and Acid Mine Drainage Evaluation of an Abandoned Coal Waste Pile at the Alborz-Sharghi Coal Washing Plant, NE Iran. Nat Resour Res 25, 347–363 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-015-9289-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11053-015-9289-5

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