Acid mine drainage is a persistent and problematic source of water pollution. Co-treatment with municipal wastewater at existing wastewater treatment plants has several advantages; however, potential impacts on plant physicochemical and biological processes have not been well explored. The primary purpose of this bench-scale study was to examine the impact of co-treatment by combining a mild acid mine drainage at various ratios with municipal wastewater, followed by sludge settling and supernatant comparative analysis using a variety of effluent water quality parameters. These measurements were combined with carbonate system and adsorption isotherm modeling to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the experimental results. Acid mine drainage addition decreased municipal wastewater effluent PO₄³⁻ concentrations below 0.2 mg/L with greater than 97% removal, demonstrating co-treatment as an alternative solution for municipal wastewater nutrient removal. Biochemical oxygen demand remained similar to controls with <10% variation after co-treatment. Coagulation from metals in acid mine drainage was incomplete due to PO₄³⁻ adsorption, confirmed by comparing experimental results with Langmuir isotherm behavior. Sweep flocculation was the dominating particle aggregation mechanism, and co-treatment led to improved particle clarification outcomes. Improved clarification led to up to 50% Fe removal. Final pH had little variation with all conditions having pH > 6.0. Carbonate system modeling adequately explains pH effects, and can also be applied to varying acid mine drainage matrices. The impact of acid mine drainage addition on the municipal wastewater microbial community was also investigated which provided evidence of microbial adaptation. This study demonstrates post-aeration co-treatment enables mitigation of mild acid mine drainage without adversely affecting wastewater treatment plant processes. Reported results also frame required future studies to address extant questions prior to full-scale adaptation.

酸性矿山排水是水污染的持久性和成问题性来源。在现有废水处理厂与市政废水共同处理具有多个优势；但是，尚未充分探讨对植物物理化学和生物过程的潜在影响。这项规模研究的主要目的是通过将各种比例的轻度酸性矿山排水与市政废水相结合，然后使用各种废水水质参数对污泥沉降和上清液进行比较分析，来研究共处理的影响。这些测量与碳酸盐体系和吸附等温线模型相结合，以阐明实验结果的潜在机理。酸性矿山排水的添加减少了市政废水的排放PO ₄ ^3-浓度低于0.2 mg / L且去除率大于97％，证明了协同处理可作为市政废水中营养物去除的替代解决方案。共同处理后，生化需氧量仍与对照相似，变化<10％。由于PO ₄ ³⁻，酸性矿山排水中金属的凝结不完全通过将实验结果与Langmuir等温行为进行比较来确认吸附。吹扫絮凝是主要的颗粒聚集机制，共同处理可改善颗粒澄清效果。改善的澄清度可去除多达50％的铁。在pH＞ 6.0的所有条件下，最终pH几乎没有变化。碳酸盐系统建模可以充分说明pH值的影响，也可以应用于各种酸性矿山排水基质。还研究了酸性矿山排水的添加对市政废水微生物群落的影响，为微生物适应提供了证据。这项研究表明，曝气后协同处理能够减轻酸性矿山的排水情况，而不会不利地影响废水处理厂的流程。