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Demos
iron mine tailing wastewater conversion to bottling-grade drinking water
requested goal – reduce or eliminate sulfates in their wastewater sample
LT SYSTEMS APPLICATION
DEMO SITE
DATE
Iron mining industry
Langenburg Technologies USA Headquarters
May 16, 2024
DEMONSTRATION AUDIENCE
Carter Energy Services
Iron mine site in Hibbing, Minnesota USA – known as "the iron range"
MINING OF NATURAL IRON ORE
Naturally occurring iron ore composite is the bulk, raw material used for steel production. Being the most highly extracted metal commodity worldwide, iron mineral-types are divided into magnetites and hematites. Taconite is a lower grade form of iron ore that is flint shale-like rock. Interbedded layers of iron ore sources can be up to 1.8 billion years aged, appearing as alternating banded layers of iron oxides, iron-poor cherts, siliceous shales, slates, carbonates and sedimentary rocks.
THE PROBLEM
Financial, social, and environmental pressures have suppressed mining of minerals and coal, combined with a high dependency on water for their processing. Dry climate regions can produce slurry runoff and wash drainage with accumulated mine tailing piles from surface mining – resulting in pollution to nearby lakes, rivers, streams, farms and aquifers.​​ Mining wastewater may be highly acidic and high in suspended solids. It’s common to find contamination with organic compounds, metals, heavy metals, and metalloids like arsenic, iron, and manganese. In some mining sites, especially for coal, the saline wastewaters may require desalination.
Iron mining pollution to natural waters
Mine effluents in the United States require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit covering various water and wastewater treatment scenarios. Many technologies address a highly variable wastewater characterization resulting from mining operations, each comprising multi-level processes and unique stages.
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COMMON MINING METHODS & PROCESSES THAT LANGENBURG TECHNOLOGIES CAN REPLACE:
• Coagulating sedimentation and oxidation treatment of process water in iron ore flotation
• Biogeochemical and biological processes such as microbial iron mining
• Electro and thermal processes such as magnetization roasting, electrocoagulation, and electrokinetics
• Chemical processes such as alkaline leaching, cation exchange, precipitation, phosphate and biosolids treatments
• Acid mine drain (AMD) treatment
• Lime precipitation at pH 10.7 and dual granular flocculant flocculation-flotation
• Packaged groundwater treatment systems combining aeration, detention, and filtration
• High‑recovery RO + VSEP® hybrid system
• Advanced filtration protocols in iron ore purification technology
• Phyto-based remediation strategies
• Heavy metal remediation mechanisms of biochar by absorption, precipitation, ion-exchange and complexation
• Zapping ‘red mud’ in plasma process for conversion of mine waste into valuable iron
• Biochemical reactors for microbial iron mining process
• Aeration treatment systems
• Anoxic limestone drains
• Backfilling with subaqueous disposal
• Advanced filtration/separation systems using permeable reactive barriers, pressure-driven membranes, and 2-step oxidation-filtration
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​LANGENBURG REGENERATIVE SOLUTION
Although highly debated, CO2 is a major concern of heavy industry, especially steel making.
DEMONSTRATION OVERVIEW
LT Boardman Waste-to-Energy plant under construction
LT Boardman Waste-to-Energy plant / current state
LT Boardman Waste-to-Energy plant under construction – interior view
LT Boardman Waste-to-Energy plant under construction
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DEMONSTRATION HIGHLIGHTS
LT 500MW Waste-2-Energy Plant Interior
LT 500MW WTE Plant Boardman Equipment No Roof
LT 500MW Waste-2-Energy Plant
LT 500MW Waste-2-Energy Plant Interior
1/7
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BANK 1 (existing housing built on site): 300 megawatts baseload/peak power;
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BANK 2 (next housing to be built on site) : 200 megawatts baseload power;
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10 x 50 MW Langenburg-proprietary power units;
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electrical load-following and 1-minute black start (without external hydraulic starter);
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separation of pure water component from raw industrial liquid waste for municipal tap supply;
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residual liquid waste concentrate conversion to non-carbon synthetic hydrogen-based fuel;
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zero emissions from the turbines;
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100% waste conversion without any residual.
Status
System Intake Fluid Consumption/MW
System Intake Fluid Type
Project Intake Fluid Type
Fuel Type
Project Build-Phase Capacity
Turbine Type
Generator Type
Deployment Use
LT-50 MW Closed-Cycle GenSet Measure
Material Products
Construction on hold; first of 2 300 MW enclosures has been erected on site.
≈1.1 cubic meter/MW (configurable/variable by density & dissolved solids).
water, liquid, or material slurry (configurable).
Municipal and industrial wastewater sourced from treatment lagoons.
LT-Proprietary Synthetic NonCarbon Hydrogen-Based UltraFuel™ produced on-demand
Phase 1 = 300 MW / Phase 2 = 500 MW / Phase 3 = 600 MW.
Qty 6/10/12; 50 MW LT—Proprietary closed-cycle regenerative hydrodynamic.
Qty 6/10/12; 50 MW LT—Proprietary regenerative quantum-electrodynamic.
Wastewater conversion to robust baseload power transmission to consumer grid.
≈ 32’L x 10’W x 16‘H (as shown in 3D-model of plant in Port of Morrow, OR) / ≈50K lbs
Municipal water, LT UltraFuel™, baseload grid power, & oxygen water.
SPECIFICATIONS
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