Breakthrough in Acidic Mine Drainage Remediation: Research Finds Effective Treatment Strategy

Researchers at Fujian Normal University have made a significant discovery in the field of environmental remediation, developing a multi-cycle treatment strategy using sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) to effectively remediate acidic mine drainage (AMD). This study demonstrates the dual benefit of SRB in both metal sulfides nanoparticle synthesis and wastewater detoxification, and establishes a predictive modeling framework to enhance the long-term applicability and design of SRB-based AMD treatment systems. Financial support for this research came from the Talent Construction Fund from Fujian Normal University.

Key Takeaways:

• The study employed a multi-cycle treatment strategy using SRB to remediate AMD, resulting in substantial improvements in AMD water quality, with pH increasing from 5.5 to 8.0, Eh decreasing from +86.8 to -200 mV, and an almost 50% reduction in total organic carbon (TOC).
• SRB not only reduced sulfate to sulfide, enabling the precipitation of Fe3+ and Zn2+ as insoluble sulfides, but also facilitated the in situ biosynthesis of metal sulfides.
• The proposed treatment process achieved complete removal (100%) of Fe3+ and Zn2+.
• Microbial community analysis revealed a compositional shift toward SRB-dominated populations after sludge domestication.
• An ordinary differential equation (ODE) model was developed to simulate the dynamics of SRB growth, sulfate reduction, and metal sequestration, and stability analysis confirmed the existence of a positive equilibrium point.
• Sensitivity analysis identified microbial growth rate and sulfate reduction efficiency as the dominant parameters most influencing system performance.
• The research has been peer-reviewed and established a predictive modeling framework to enhance the long-term applicability and design of SRB-based AMD treatment systems.
• The study was led by Zuliang Chen from Fujian Normal University and included collaborate researchers Jinyang Chen, Li Gan, Miqin Chen, Wensheng Yang and Gary Owens.

Statistics:

• AMD water quality improvements: pH increased from 5.5 to 8.0, Eh decreased from +86.8 to -200 mV, and TOC reduced by almost 50%.
• Complete removal (100%) of Fe3+ and Zn2+ was achieved.
• SRB-dominated populations accounted for a shift in microbial community analysis after sludge domestication.

Sources:

• Chen et al. (2025). Mathematical Modeling of In Situ Synthesis of Metal Sulfides By Sulfate-reducing Bacteria and Treatment of Acidic Mine Drainage. Chemical Engineering Journal, 522.
• NewsRx (2025). Researchers from Fujian Normal University Detail New Studies and Findings in the Area of Chemicals and Chemistry (Mathematical Modeling of In Situ Synthesis of Metal Sulfides By Sulfate-reducing Bacteria and Treatment of Acidic Mine Drainage). Mathematics Week, p 4056.