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Environmental pollution by wastewater from brown coal processing ¬ a remediation case study in Germany

    Arndt Wiessner Affiliation
    ; Jochen A. Müller Affiliation
    ; Peter Kuschk Affiliation
    ; Uwe Kappelmeyer Affiliation
    ; Matthias Kästner Affiliation
    ; Yong-Jun Liu Affiliation
    ; Ulrich Stottmeister Affiliation

Abstract

The large scale of the contamination by the former carbo-chemical industry in Germany requires new and often interdisciplinary approaches for performing an economically sustainable remediation. For example, a highly toxic and dark-colored phenolic wastewater from a lignite pyrolysis factory was filled into a former open-cast pit, forming a large wastewater disposal pond. This caused an extensive environmental pollution, calling for an ecologically and economically acceptable strategy for remediation. Laboratory-scale investigations and pilot-scale tests were carried out. The result was the development of a strategy for an implementation of full-scale enhanced in situ natural attenuation on the basis of separate habitats in a meromictic pond. Long-term monitoring of the chemical and biological dynamics of the pond demonstrates the metamorphosis of a former highly polluted industrial waste deposition into a nature-integrated ecosystem with reduced danger for the environment, and confirmed the strategy for the chosen remediation management.

Keyword : disposal pond, environmental pollution, lignite pyrolysis, remediation strategy, wastewater

How to Cite
Wiessner, A., Müller, J. A., Kuschk, P., Kappelmeyer, U., Kästner, M., Liu, Y.-J., & Stottmeister, U. (2014). Environmental pollution by wastewater from brown coal processing ¬ a remediation case study in Germany. Journal of Environmental Engineering and Landscape Management, 22(1), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.3846/16486897.2013.808640
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Mar 18, 2014
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.