Water and sediments quality of washing effluent from Al-Hisa and Al-Abiyad phosphate mines

الكلية: كلية العل وم

الجهة البحثية: جامعة مؤتة

عنوان البحث المنشور:

1. Evaluation of the effluent water quality produced at phosphate mines in central Jordan
2. Geochemical dissociation of major and trace elements in bed and suspended sediment phases of the phosphate mines effluent water, Jordan

سنة النشر:  2004 و 2006

ملخص البحث المنشور: 

1. The effluent water produced by the washing process at the Al-Hisa and Al-Abyad phosphate mines in central Jordan was investigated in summer 2002. Twenty-four effluent and 10 ground water samples were collected and analyzed. There was a significant difference in water chemistry between input (groundwater) and output (effluent water) but, although the investigated area is highly fractured, the stable isotopic results indicated little or no mixing between the effluent water and groundwater in the area. This is attributed to the precipitation of clay-sized particles along the drainage channel. The quality of the effluent from the Al-Hisa mine was better than at the Al-Abyad mine, with electrical conductivity averaging 1474 µS/cm at Al-Hisa and 3250 µS/cm at Al-Abyad. The difference in effluent quality is attributed to slight lithological differences. At both mines, chloride was the predominant ion in the effluent water, with an average concentration of 669 ppm and 1299 ppm at the Al-Hisa and Al-Abyad mines respectively. The concentrations of heavy metals in the high-pH effluent water were very low, presumably due to precipitation and absorption onto suspended fine-grained particles. The effluent water from both mines was found to be relatively low in sodium and radiation, and suitable for the irrigation of salt tolerant plants.
    
2. . The bed and suspended (slime) sediment phases associated with effluent water that are produced from phosphate-ore-upgrading process at Al-Abyad mine in the southern part of Jordan were analyzed chemically and mineralogically. The results show that the effluent water is highly oxic and mildly alkaline in nature. The geochemical behavior of each phase was controlled by the effluent water physicochemical parameters, sediment particle size, mineralogical constituents of the studied phases, and the prevailing climatic nature of the area. Bed sediments have higher concentrations of many elements than slime. Accordingly, the bed sediments can be considered as a sink rather than a pool for many elements. The geochemical dissociation of major oxides and trace elements between bed and slime sediments was evident using t test, particularly between P2O5, SiO2, CaO, K2O, Mn, Sr, Y, and Co, and to lesser extent, V, U, Zn, and Cr. This might be attributed to effluent water characteristics, mineralogy, and the presence of fine-grained materials. The spatial distribution of major oxide and trace element concentrations along the stream drainage exhibited a slight increase with distance either in bed or slime sediment phases. However, they increased suddenly at the last three sampling sites, which might be due to the abundance of fine-grained materials that are mainly composed of clay minerals (montmorillonite) that would enhance the adsorption process. Moreover, the XRD results confirmed the existence of elemental geochemical dissociation as a function of mineral control.

رابط البحث المنشور: 

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10230-004-0053-z
2. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00254-006-0357-3