During these months, our partners from Swansea University are carrying out the operational optimisation of the Life DEMINE pilot plant in their laboratories. Using bench scale equipment, they are testing and optimizing the different steps involved in the innovative treatment process to define the best operation conditions and to make a first evaluation of the process performance for the mining wastewaters coming from the two project sites (Frongoch, in Wales; Menteroda, in Germany).
To date, they have fully characterized the mining wastewater coming from the two project sites, focusing on the quantification of particulate materials, organic and inorganic materials, metals, total dissolved solids, pH and conductivity. With this information, they are working in optimizing the pre-treatment step, which mainly includes the selection of the most appropriate MF membrane and the suitable cleaning procedure to be applied. Pre-treatment is a key step to remove the most impactful species from the mining wastewaters that will be treated, such as particulates and organic matter.
Swansea University facilities
In parallel to the pre-treatment optimisation, Swansea University is also working in the set-up of the nanofiltration step, whereas Elentec is doing the first trials with Electrocoagulation.
Action B.1 is expected to be finished on July 2018, when all the required information to properly design the DEMINE pilot plant will be ready.