PhD opportunity on long-term management of bauxite residues leachates

Our team has now available a Ph.D. opportunity at the University of Leeds on “Long-term management of leachates produced from highly alkaline bauxite residues” with Dr Ian Burke (SEE), Prof Doug Stewart (Civil Eng), Dr Will Mayes (Hull) and Amiel Boullemant (Rio Tinto Legacy Management).

Project Objectives

1. Investigate the fate and mobility of soluble metals (Al, As, Mo. V) in relevant leachate management systems (e.g. neutralisation, re-circulation) using a combination of on-site measurement and laboratory experimentation (with synchrotron and electron microscopy based characterisation of metal(loid) speciation in the solid phases produced).
2. Determine the effectiveness of residue treatments (e.g. in situ neutralisation, carbonation reactions) for controlling trace metal(loid) leaching and their long-term role in promoting residue stability and rehabilitation/ revegetation prospects.
3. Investigate the fate of released oxyanions (chiefly V) in natural environments receiving treated leachates in order to understand the role of interactions with soil minerals and organic matter in controlling metal(loid) mobility and risk.

Project partner(s): Rio Tinto Legacy Management

Contact email: i.t.burke@leeds.ac.uk

You can find detailed information here.

MAPeRR – Multi-parametric Assessment of Policies for Resource Recovery from Waste

The second MAPeRR meeting was held at the University of Leeds this Monday and the team were together for the first time since our initial inaugural meeting early in the summer. The first challenge of the day was to find the meeting room the second to work out how to use the coffee machine! Both objectives were achieved.

The first half of the meeting was very intense, each member of the team reporting on what they had achieved over the summer. We each  had produced a report and took the other members of the team through our findings. Questions were asked and we discussed the range of issues that were highlighted in each report. We animatedly talked about the ways in which these key issues related to the MAPeRR case study and how these same problems were relevant for the individual projects which form the NERC programme, Resource Recovery from Waste (RRfW). An initial assessment of what the phases of the project required was decided upon and then mentally exhausted we adjourned for a much-needed lunch. Due to the excellence of the food last time we revisited the same restaurant and were equally impressed. We even managed to sit at the same table! We left satisfied and smelling of charcoal and barbecued food.

Back to work, where we planned in more detail the next phases of the project and the work that each of us will be responsible for. The logistics of arranging when we could all get together again and how the work would be achieved were all thrashed out. We have split into teams each team bringing a range of skills from their own area of specialisation to the MAPeRR project. The next few months are definitely going to be interesting and intense! The mood of the meeting was very optimistic and we are all excited about what MAPeRR can achieve in the time we have left.

As dusk drew in goodbyes were said and we are looking forward to meeting up again at the RRfW annual conference in early December!

MAPeRR partners: The Universities of Hull (R3AW), Leeds (C-VORR) and Surrey and Stopford Energy & Environment.

Written by Dr Helen Baxter (R3AW) University of Hull.