Selenium Removal and Pollution Swapping Potentials of Passive Anaerobic Bioreactors Receiving Coal Slurry Impoundment Wastes
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences Plant and Soil Sciences 2021 SELENIUM REMOVAL AND POLLUTION SWAPPING POTENTIALS OF PASSIVE ANAEROBIC BIOREACTORS RECEIVING COAL SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT WASTES MD Anik Mahmud University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8989-6522 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2021.073 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Mahmud, MD Anik, "SELENIUM REMOVAL AND POLLUTION SWAPPING POTENTIALS OF PASSIVE ANAEROBIC BIOREACTORS RECEIVING COAL SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT WASTES" (2021). Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences. 143. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/pss_etds/143 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Plant and Soil Sciences at UKnowledge. 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MD Anik Mahmud, Student Dr. Elisa D'Angelo, Major Professor Dr. Mark Coyne, Director of Graduate Studies SELENIUM REMOVAL AND POLLUTION SWAPPING POTENTIALS OF PASSIVE ANAEROBIC BIOREACTORS RECEIVING COAL SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT WASTES ________________________________________ THESIS ________________________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Kentucky By MD Anik Mahmud Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Elisa M. D’Angelo, Associate Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences Lexington, Kentucky 2021 Copyright © MD Anik Mahmud 2021 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8989-6522 ABSTRACT OF THESIS SELENIUM REMOVAL AND POLLUTION SWAPPING POTENTIALS OF PASSIVE ANAEROBIC BIOREACTORS RECEIVING COAL SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT WASTES Worldwide, selenium is a major contaminant of concern for coal and metal ore mining industries. In coal mining regions of the eastern USA, for example, billions of liters of wastewaters with 2- 2- elevated Se oxyanion concentrations (primarily SeO4 and SeO3 ) are generated during coal washing which is often stored in >700 man-made impoundments built into remote mountain valleys. Because impoundments are unlined systems, they tend to leak contents into nearby streams, which has detrimental effects on sensitive biota, particularly fish. The primary goal of this project was to evaluate the capacity of passive anaerobic bioreactors (PAB) to remove Se from coal slurry leachate, while at the same time not contributing other pollutants (e.g. nutrients, trace elements, greenhouse gases) that could have detrimental effects on water or air quality (“pollution swapping”). Generally, PAB are trenches filled with organic substrates (e.g. wood Chips) which support the growth of microorganisms that can improve water quality as wastes move through the system. Over the last 20 years, PAB systems have been employed to remove nitrate from agricultural drainage by denitrification, but PAB has not been extensively evaluated 2- for SeO4 reduction to insoluble Se(0), and accompanying biogeochemical processes which might contribute unwanted pollutants in PAB effluents. The project's central hypothesis was Se removal rates and efficiency, and pollution swapping will be significantly related to the type and chemical composition of organic substrates and maturity of PAB systems. Selenate removal and pollution swapping were evaluated in PAB filled with biofuel plant substrates (either Hardwood Chips, Switchgrass, Miscanthus, and Timothy Hay) in triplicate laboratory batch reactors fed synthetic coal slurry at 32-d retention times over 7 months. PAB water and headspace gases were sampled with time in four different maturation periods to analyze pH, electrical conductivity, redox + - - 3- 2- potential, Se and trace elements, nutrients (NH4 , (NO3 +NO2 ), PO4 , and SO4 ), dissolved organic C, and greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, and N2O). Over different maturation periods, the concentrations of 13 pollutants in PAB effluents were compared with respective concentrations in pristine Appalachian streams to compute the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME-WQI) which is a measure of overall effluent quality. This study showed that selenate concentrations were reduced at significantly different rates and efficiencies depending on type of organic substrate and maturation time in PAB. However, Se concentrations did not reach the current EPA target 0.003 mg Se L-1 in any PAB. Results also showed that there were significant differences in several biogeochemical processes (e.g. microbial respiration, denitrification, sulfate reduction), nutrient release (e.g. phosphate, dissolved organic carbon), and greenhouse gas production (e.g. carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide) depending on type of organic substrate and maturation time in PAB systems. Concentrations of Se and several other chemicals in PAB effluents greatly exceeded concentrations in pristine Appalachian streams which resulted in low CCME-WQI scores <25 which translated to poor water quality. Future research is recommended to determine factors that restrained Se removal and the maturation time required to achieve improved effluent quality in PAB systems. KEYWORDS: Organic substrates, Microbial reduction, Bioremediation, Greenhouse gases, Water quality index MD Anik Mahmud 03/24/2021 SELENIUM REMOVAL AND POLLUTION SWAPPING POTENTIALS OF PASSIVE ANAEROBIC BIOREACTORS RECEIVING COAL SLURRY IMPOUNDMENT WASTES By MD Anik Mahmud Dr. Elisa M. D’Angelo Director of Thesis Dr. Mark Coyne Director of Graduate Studies 03/24/2021 Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to thank my research advisor, Dr. Elisa D’Angelo, for her guidance over the last three years, which will surely have an everlasting positive impact on my scientific abilities and continue to help me grow as an independent researcher. Discussing research with her in the lab always been very intriguing and inspiring for me. I also want to express my sincere gratitude for her help in the greenhouse gas measurement and writing suggestions. I also want to thank my committee members Dr. Andrea Erhardt, Dr. Jason Unrine, and Dr. Mark Coyne, for thought-provoking questions and suggestions, which helped me improve my thesis and overall research quality. I felt fortunate to be helped by laboratory manager Megan Combs and research analyst Tami Smith in ICP-MS and ICP-OES analysis. Last but not least, I want to thank from the core of heart to department of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Kentucky for giving me the opportunity to experience and learn Science. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ vi LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. ix Selenium Biogeochemistry, Background, and Research Objectives ........................... 1 1.1 Discovery and fundamental chemical and physical properties of selenium ...................... 1 1.2 Selenium uses and production ........................................................................................... 3 1.3 Selenium release to earth surface by volcanic activity and rock weathering .................... 3 1.4 Selenium uptake and transformations by biota ............................................................... 12 1.4.1 Plant uptake and transformations of selenium ....................................................... 12 1.4.2 Bacterial uptake and transformations of selenium ................................................. 16 1.4.3 Algal uptake and transformations of selenium .......................................................