Recovering Metals from Acid Mine Drainage - Ohio University Mechanical Engineering Capstone
Recovering Metals from Acid Mine Drainage - Ohio University Mechanical Engineering Capstone from Drew Stroud
Recovering Metals from Acid Mine Drainage - Ohio University Mechanical Engineering Capstone

During my Senior capstone course, I led a team of 3 mechanical engineers to develop a novel solution for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Unlike current solutions that mediate this potent pollutant, our solution remediates the issue by extracting the toxic metals out of the effluent. With a PhD inorganic chemist for an advisor, we developed a benchtop scale liquid-liquid extraction unit that extracts metal from abandoned mine water using a proprietary extractant solution. We validated the market need through a market facing company, Winner Water Services. Our solution was awarded 2nd place from P&G and from the Mechanical Engineering department, and 1st place from the Center for Entpreneurship at OU's Student Research Expo. The process we created remediates AMD to restore the environment and generates clean water as well as metal ions that can be sold to metal reclamation companies.

The process flow used to create problem boundaries (being sure to avoid scope creep), ensure a well-engineered solution, and maintain schedule while building the prototype.
Showing the first two-phase test run in the system. This shows vegetable oil dispersed within water. The two phases are mixed in the chamber on the right (where ion exchange would occur), and then separate within the middle chamber. This test was successful in verifying an ideal agitator speed and proper mixer-settler design.
Showing a design of the agitator mounts. The system had a total of 10 agitator units which consisted of 5V motors driving custom mixers.
The first completed mixer-settler box. These units are made entirely of PVC, glued with chemically resistant PVC cement, and feature a clear PVC face for observing fluid dynamics.
Precision was important for consistency throughout the 10 units required for the design. Various jigs were used to locate the baffles and weirs to hold design tolerances.
Each box was manufactured by hand. In doing so, we obtained a perspective on potential manufacturing costs.
Experimental set up to test the mixing and settling capabilities of one unit.
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Recovering Metals from Acid Mine Drainage - Ohio University Mechanical Engineering Capstone

During my Senior capstone course, I led a team of 3 mechanical engineers to develop a novel solution for Acid Mine Drainage (AMD). Unlike current solutions that mediate this potent pollutant, our solution remediates the issue by extracting the toxic metals out of the effluent. With a PhD inorganic chemist for an advisor, we developed a benchtop scale liquid-liquid extraction unit that extracts metal from abandoned mine water using a proprietary extractant solution. We validated the market need through a market facing company, Winner Water Services. Our solution was awarded 2nd place from P&G and from the Mechanical Engineering department, and 1st place from the Center for Entpreneurship at OU's Student Research Expo. The process we created remediates AMD to restore the environment and generates clean water as well as metal ions that can be sold to metal reclamation companies.

Available
Full-time
Drew Stroud
Mechanical Engineer Focused on Environmental Solutions Indianapolis, IN