Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2022, Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

Polluted water is a pressing burden for civilization. Management and treatment of polluted water is a costly but necessary process for the health of the environment and the humans that live in it. Demand for novel, inexpensive, and effective treatment options is constant, and further insight on their use and impacts are as important as ever for our changing world. Two such sources of polluted water are analyzed in this document: acid mine drainage and urban stormwater runoff. Acid mine drainage (AMD), a negative consequence of the mining industry resulting from interaction between water, oxygen, and exposed bedrock, is prevalent worldwide and requires expensive and perpetual treatment. The Wilds, an animal reserve in southeastern Ohio situated on a retired strip mine site, has partnered with OSU to address AMD discharging into streams and ponds on its property. Pervious concrete has shown potential in neutralizing AMD, and this study was developed to determine the effectiveness of pervious concrete at removing heavy metals and neutralizing acid from an AMD source. Using various mix designs of pervious concrete, the individual removal behavior of aluminum, manganese, iron, and copper from natural and synthetic AMD sources was tracked. Pervious concrete cylinders were also used to model the length of a permeable reactive barrier to treat field-scale AMD. Furthermore, acid neutralization ability and durability of six concrete mixes were tested when exposed to a year of acidic conditions. Experimentation revealed the concrete removes >95% of aluminum, iron and copper, and ~30% of manganese in natural AMD over 24 hours. Column testing indicated permeable reactive barriers of 4-8 meters in length are recommended to treat Al, Fe, and Cu. Pervious concrete compressive strength withstood a year of acid attack without significant decline, and results show a promising argument for the use of porous concrete in acid mine drainage treatment at field scale. Lakes and river (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jay Martin (Committee Member); Lisa Burris (Advisor); Ryan Winston (Advisor) Subjects: Civil Engineering; Environmental Education; Management; Water Resource Management