The Challenge

With the expected implementation of stricter water quality regulations for the mining sector in Canada, many mines are looking for a solution to remove Selenium from process water. Current water treatment technologies are not effective at very low concentrations, nor do they provide selectivity to capture specifically the traces of Selenium.

The Solution

Materium has tested the MAT250 silica microspheres, both for the effect on Selenium extraction as well as for the selectivity of Selenium in a cocktail of metals in water.

At a 100 ppm concentration of Se in water, with a 2mg/mL concentration of MAT250, our microspheres extracted the Selenium to below the detection threshold.

Another test used MAT250 to extract Selenium from a metal cocktail in water containing Se, Zn, Pb, Ni, Mn, Fe, Cu and Al; each element was present at 100 ppm for a total pollutant concentration of 800 ppm. A concentration of 2mg/mL MAT250 reduced the Se concentration by 82 ppm while leaving the other elements virtually untouched.