Prospects of using tailings of apatite–nepheline ore processing for wastewater defluorination

Wastewater containing fluorides is a significant environmental problem for the mining and processing industries. Technological processes, including mining, ore processing and sulfuric acid processing of apatite concentrates, are accompanied by the formation of huge volumes of wastewater with a high concentration of fluoride ions. These compounds have a depressing effect on ecosystems and human health, which makes it necessary to develop effective defluorination methods. This paper considers the prospect of using waste from the mining and metallurgical industries (nepheline concentrate and dust from gas purification plants) as sedimentation reagents for the first stage of purification. Studies have been conducted on the selection of reagents and their effective doses in order to maximize the removal of fluoride ions from wastewater. It was found that the efficiency of the wastewater defluorination process of more than 99% was achieved with an F/Al2O3 ratio of 1:2,5 when using nepheline concentrate. The subsequent reduction in the concentration of fluoride ions was carried out using gas purification dust from electric steelmaking furnaces in a CaO/F ratio of 1,75:1 with a purification efficiency of 84,1%. Aftertreatment of wastewater from fluoride ions to discharge standards in fisheries facilities was carried out by coagulation method using aluminum salts.

Peresunko Y. D., Azopkov S. V. Prospects of using tailings of apatite–nepheline ore processing for wastewater defluorination. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(9-1):143–155. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_91_0_143.

Y.D. Peresunko¹, Master Student, Engineer, e-mail: yperesunko@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0009-0004-6977-5792,
S.V. Azopkov¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Laboratory, e-mail: sergej.azopkov@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3422-3443,
¹ D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, 125480, Moscow, Russia.

Y.D. Peresunko, e-mail: yperesunko@mail.ru.

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