e-Malahleni, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa – Operating direct purified recycled water facility using acid mine drainage water
The eMalahleni Water Reclamation Plant Plant owned by Thungela Operations (Pty) Ltd uses a High Recovery Reverse Osmosis (HiPRo) process to treat acid mine drainage to potable water drinking standards. This choice of technology was to minimise the waste generated by maximising the water recovery rate. The plant produces on average 40 million litres (10.5 million gallons) per day and has design capacity of up to 50 million litres (13 million gallons) per day. The treated water is supplied to the local municipality and the surrounding mine to be used for drinking and mining processes.
The overall plant recovery is approximately 99%.