Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

Considering versatile utilization of water in mining activities, huge amount of contaminated effluent that may contain high selenate and selenite concentration in mine effluent. Even after lime precipitation, as a conventional treatment method, selenium concentration is more than 200 µg.L-1. In order to resolve this problem, different chemical, biological and physical process such as, precipitation, ion exchange, electro-coagulation and zero valent iron have been widely investigated, yet, none of them is economically feasible. Furthermore, future regulations trend to force mine industry to reduce detrimental effect on the surrounding environment. Indeed, water reuse will be an interesting and economically viable approach toward zero-waste mining. Reverse osmosis is an attractive option, which could meet both of those requirements. In this context, Thetis Environmental has developed a new generation of reverse osmosis (RO) capable of effective separation of high salt content minerals into pure water permeate and concentrated brine. As they are collaborating with other industrial sectors, investigating other markets including mine sector is very promoting for the company. For this attempt, they tend to collaborate with the CTRI to demonstrate and validate the efficiency of their RO technology for selenium removal in mine effluents especially in cold climate. For achieving the project's objectives within the given deadlines, this project will be profited from a multidisciplinary team and an operational R&D infrastructure; essential ingredients for achieving the project's objectives within the given deadlines