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and, when they die, provide adsorption surfaces, along with sites for algal <br />growth- <br />Aeration is best used where the mine drainage pH is about 6.5 or above. <br />Aeration promotes metal precipitation through oxidation processes. Aeration <br />can be accomplished by mechanical means, or simply by channeling the <br />drainage over rough slopes. Mechanical methods require some source of power, <br />which may be generated through wind, solar cells, or hydropower. Aeration <br />methods normally include a settling pond below the aeration component. <br />Mechanical injection of neutralizing agents involves a powered mechanical <br />feeder/dosing system for dispensing neutralizing agents. This type of system <br />requires frequent maintenance, may produce significant quantities of metal <br />sludge, and should be considered "semi-passive." Power for the feeder can <br />come from wind, solar, or hydropower. At the Pennsylvania Mine in Summit <br />County, a turbine running in the adit dischazge stream demonstrated that <br />hydropower is practical in some situations- Mechanical systems are generally <br />considered only where there are no options for truly passive alternatives. Any <br />high pH material can be used in this type of system. Because of cost <br />effectiveness and sludge chazacteristics, the most common neutralizing agent is <br />finely ground limestone. <br />Dilution is often overlooked as a treatment method. It can be a cost effective <br />method of treatment, because the neutralizing agent is simply uncontaminated <br />water. Clean water is mixed with the mine drainage in a settling pond, and the <br />resultant pH increases initiates precipitation of metals. A drawback to this <br />method is that the percentage of metals precipitated is significantly less than <br />other methods. Metal removal is site specific, but generally less than 50'0. This <br />method is most effective in removing iron, aluminum, copper, cadmium, and <br />lead, but has only slight effectiveness for zinc and manganese. <br />Electro-kinetics is a newer semi-passive method to remove metals from mine <br />drainage. There are several forms of this treatment currently being developed. <br />The electro-kinetic method discussed in this report uses slow-maintenance, self- <br />regulating resin to remove metals from mine discharge. Different metals can be <br />separated by using ion specific resins. Electricity is used to strip metals from <br />the resins, producing sludge, and allowing reuse of the resin. <br />Land application is a method designed to use natural metals attenuation <br />processes in soil and subsoil to remove metals. Plant uptake, evaporation and <br />transpiration, and soil exchange capacity act to tie up and remove metals. This <br />method is most effective where mine discharge can be spread over a large area <br />to infiltrate into relatively thick soils or unconsolidated deposits. Drainage <br />should be neutral or neaz neutral to avoid plant toxicity. This alternative is also <br />effective for discharges with high iron and/or aluminum, where pH is <br />approximately 4.5 or above. <br />10 <br />