Waste water leaking from disused iron mines could be cleaned up using fuel cells, producing electricity and useful iron compounds into the bargain. Such a set-up could make cleaning up old mines more economical and efficient.
Pennsylvania has a long history of iron mining. “There’s a lot of problems here with acid mine leakage,” says Bruce Logan of Pennsylvania State University. Such leaks carry sulphuric acid and dissolved metals into rivers, where it kills aquatic life and can turn rivers bright red or yellow.
To tackle the problem, Logan’s group adapted fuel cells originally designed to produce electricity from household…
