Remoción de mercurio en aguas residuales de la actividad minera con el uso de microalgas

Mining is an activity in Ecuador that has been developed over several decades and currently projects five large scale interventions. However, this involves processes that can impact on the environment, especially in the form of poisonous emissions such as effluent liquids, solids and gases. With an economy that is becoming increasingly less dependent on oil it is necessary to promote the sustainable exploitation of minerals, this in turn will help to change the production method which will guarantee the integrity of the environment. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to evaluate the efficiency of the removal of Mercury, Phosphates, Sulfate, and Nitrates from the waste water produced during Gold Mining. This would be achieved via a process of Phytormediation and with the use of native species of micro algae such as, Pleurococcus sp, Scenedesmus sp, and Cholera sp. The purpose of the process is to compare the capacity of adaption in the Micro Algae and their absorption in containments of waste water collected from the discharge point from one of the mills. This particular mill is located on the riverside of Calera Portovelo in the province of El Oro. The three species were cultured for water treatment individually and as part of a consortium of four Photobioreactors. There operating conditions for each of the proposed treatments must be constantly maintained and CO2 applied as a natural resource. Characterisation of the parameters in both the waste and treated water were carried out, concluding that all treatments were effective because the concentration of containments was significantly reduced. The Algae that achieved the highest rate of mercury removal was Pleurococcus sp, 93 percent of the Mercury was removed from this Microalgae. With regard to the removal of Phosphates, Sulphates and Nitrates the percentages achieved were 97 percent, 93 percent and 76 percent respectively.