Feasibility of Bioaugmentation with Iron/Sulfur Oxidizing Acidophiles to Enhance Copper Bioleaching from a Flotation Copper Ore

Zhang, Li Juan; Mao, Feng; Li, Kai; Chen, Xin Hua; Zhou, Hong Bo

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.768.447

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HomeApplied Mechanics and MaterialsSelected Proceedings of the Ninth International...Feasibility of Bioaugmentation with Iron/Sulfur...

Feasibility of Bioaugmentation with Iron/Sulfur Oxidizing Acidophiles to Enhance Copper Bioleaching from a Flotation Copper Ore

Abstract:

The feasibility of one strategy of bioaugmentation was assessed to enhance copper extraction from chalcopyrite. Bioaugmentation consisted of the re-addition of one iron/sulfur oxidizing acidophile (Acidithiobacillus caldus, Ferroplasma thermophilum or Leptospirillum ferriphilum) into the early stage (on the 5^th day) of the bioleaching system. The strain selection and inoculum concentration of bioaugmentation were separately investigated by comparing changes in the bioleaching performance and leached solid residues. Results indicated that bioaugmentation with three augmented strains synergistically promoted the total microbial growth and increased the cell numbers, and then accelerated the iron/sulfur oxidation, thereby catalytically regenerated the copper leaching agents of Fe³⁺ and H⁺ compared to the unamended control. Finally, an enhancement in copper extraction was detected and moreover positively correlated with the introducing cell numbers. Particularly, re-addition of L. ferriphilum on the 5^th day showed the best improvement in copper leaching, which remarkably shortened the incubation time (12 days) of almost full copper extraction while only 85.8% of copper was leached after 24 days in the control. Therefore, bioaugmentation could be a useful bio-remedy to improve the bioleaching kinetics and level of copper ore.

Info:

Periodical:

Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volume 768)

Main Theme:

Selected Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Waste Management and Technology

Edited by:

Jinhui Li and Hualong Hu

Pages:

447-457

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.768.447

Citation:

L. J. Zhang et al., "Feasibility of Bioaugmentation with Iron/Sulfur Oxidizing Acidophiles to Enhance Copper Bioleaching from a Flotation Copper Ore", Applied Mechanics and Materials, Vol. 768, pp. 447-457, 2015

Online since:

June 2015

Authors:

Li Juan Zhang, Feng Mao, Kai Li, Xin Hua Chen, Hong Bo Zhou *

Keywords:

Bioaugmentation, Bioleaching, Copper Ore, Moderately Thermophilic Acidophiles

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$41.00

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Paper TitlePages

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FISH Analysis of Bacterial Attachment to Copper Sulfides in Bioleaching Processes

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329

Bioleaching of Low-Grade Copper Sulfide Ore Using a Colum Reactor

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Abstract: The effects of several variables on the column bioleaching of copper sulphide ore have been investigated. The copper ore contained chalcopyrite as the main sulfide minerals and bornite and chalcocite as the minor minerals. The experiment was carried out using bench-scale column leach reactors designed in Key Lab of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, which were inoculated with the pure mesophile bacteria (Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans) and thermophile bacteria (Sulfobacillus), respectively, and the mixed bacteria which contain both iron- and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. The results show that the mixed cultures were more efficient than the pure cultures alone and the maximum copper recovery 53.64% was achieved using the mixed cultures after 85 days. The leaching rate of chalcopyrite tended to increase with the increased dissolved ferric iron concentration. The effect of particle size on the rate of the copper leaching was also investigated, and it was shown that the copper bioleaching rate decreases as the amount of fines increase, which limits the permeability, thus decreases leaching rate. Jarosite and elemental sulphur formed in the column were characterized by the X-ray and EDS.

409

The Effect of Silver Ion Catalysis on Bioleaching of Chalcopyrite Tailings

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