Development of an Extremophilic Iron Oxidizing Consortium and a Fixed Film Bioreactor for Generation of Ferric Lixivient

Shailesh R. Dave; T.J. Shah; D.R. Tipre

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.20-21.501

Paper Titles

Analysis of the Microbial Community in the Leachate Collected from an Experimental Bioleaching Column by Cloning and RFLP
p.485

The Diversity of Benthic Microorganisms in Acidic Mine Lake Sediments
p.489

Microbial Diversity in an Iron Oxidation Tank of an AMD Treatment Plant at an Abandoned Sulphur Mine
p.493

Reduction of Soluble and Solid Ferric Iron by Acidiphilium SJH
p.497

Development of an Extremophilic Iron Oxidizing Consortium and a Fixed Film Bioreactor for Generation of Ferric Lixivient
p.501

Enrichment of Chromium-Reducing Bacteria Using Potential-Controlled Electrochemical Cultivation
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Research on isc Operon in Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC 23270
p.509

Effect of Sulphate Concentration on the Community Structure and Activity of Sulphate Reducing Bacteria
p.513

Kinetics of Ferrous Iron Oxidation by Moderately Thermophilic Microorganisms
p.517

HomeAdvanced Materials ResearchAdvanced Materials Research Vols. 20-21Development of an Extremophilic Iron Oxidizing...

Development of an Extremophilic Iron Oxidizing Consortium and a Fixed Film Bioreactor for Generation of Ferric Lixivient

Abstract:

Acidophilic iron-oxidizing microorganisms are important for both, the environment and for biotechnological applications. Biogeneration of ferric from ferrous iron was studied using an iron-oxidizing consortium developed during polymetallic concentrate bioleaching. A promising iron oxidizing consortium was developed by adaptation and selection, which resulted in bacterial iron oxidation activity under the extreme conditions of 250 g/L ferrous sulphate as initial substrate and 500 g/L ferric sulphate. The development of iron oxidizers improved the iron oxidation rate from 0.019 to as high as 0.6 g/L/h in the shake flask studies with 25 % initial ferrous sulphate in the medium. The consortium showed dominance of Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. A fixed film bioreactor was further developed to improve rates of iron oxidation. The developed fixed film bioreactor operated successfully for 200 batches without external addition of inoculum with the highest iron oxidation rate of 1.89 g/L/h. The biological ferric iron generation process provides continuous leaching agent in the form of ferric sulphate, which would be a promising eco-friendly biotechnological process for the indirect extraction of precious metals from sulphidic mineral concentrates.