Mobility of trace and potentially harmful elements in the environment from high sulfur Indian coal mines

Coal mine rejects and sulfide bearing coals are prone to acid mine drainage (AMD) formation due to aqueous weathering. These acidic effluents contain dissolved trace and potentially harmful elements (PHEs) that have considerable impact on the environment. The behavior of these elements in AMD is mainly controlled by pH. The focus of the present study is to investigate aqueous leaching of mine rejects for prediction of acid producing potential, rates of weathering, and release of PHEs in mine drainage. Mine reject (MR) and coal samples from the active mine sites of Meghalaya, India typically have high S contents (1.8–5.7% in MR and 1.7–4.7% in coals) with 75–90% of the S in organic form and enrichment of most of the PHEs in rejects. Aqueous kinetic leaching experiments on mine rejects showed high acid producing potential and release of trace and potentially harmful elements. The elements (Sb, As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, V and Zn) in mine sample leachates are compared with those in mine waters. The concentrations of Al, Si, P, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb are found to increase with leaching time and are negatively correlated with pH of the solution. The processes controlling the release of these elements are acid leaching, precipitation and adsorption. The critical loads of PHEs in water affected by AMD are calculated by comparing their concentrations with those of regulatory levels. The Enrichment Factors (EFs) and soil pollution indices (SPIs) for the elements have shown that PHEs from coal and mine reject samples are mobilized into the nearby environment and are enriched in the associated soil and sediment.

Research highlights
► Coal mine rejects have high acid producing potential and high concentration of toxic elements.
► The major processes that control release of trace and PHEs are acidic leaching, adsorption and precipitation.
► Critical loads of PHEs in mine waters exceeded regulatory levels.
► The trace and PHEs are associated with mineral matter and sulfides.