specializing in

water restoration

Research

Hedin Environmental is a leader in the development of innovative, cost-effective mine drainage treatment technologies. Three of our successful research projects are listed below. These projects were funded by SBIR awards, government grants, and private foundation funding.

This project was initially funded by Phase I and Phase II awards from the USDA SBIR program in 1995.  Since the project was completed, Iron Oxide Recovery Inc. was formed and we have recovered and sold 3,800 tons of iron oxide from mine drainage sites. 

This ongoing project is developing a method for controlling phosphate releases from land-applied animal manures using mine drainage solids.  The project has been conducted in conjunction with Trout Unlimited, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the PA Growing Greener Program.

This project was funded in 2005 by the PADEP BAMR.  It resulted in the development of the Drainable Limestone Bed technology, which provides a novel cost-effective method for treating acidic metal-contaminated mine water with limestone. The technology is being implemented at sites throughout the Eastern US.

Increased Generation of Alkalinity from Limestone through Carbonation

Our carbonation works seeks to combine water carbonation technology with limestone, mine water treatment technology to increase alkalinity production. This carbonation technology will expand the applicability of limestone systems to treat severely polluted AMD. The project is ongoing and is funded by a 2020 EPA SBIR Phase I and a 2021 EPA SBIR Phase II grant.

Rare Earth Elements in Mine Water

Mine water is enriched in rare earth elements (REE), critical metals for renewable energy technologies. Our work focused on characterizing REE enriched solids produced from mine water treatment and creating geochemical models to predict dissolved REE attenuation from mine water. This work was primarily conducted by Ben Hedin during his PhD at the University of Pittsburgh.