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Iron solubilization during anaerobic growth of acidophilic microorganisms with a polymetallic sulfide ore

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posted on 2016-01-12, 15:13 authored by Paul R. Norris, Oliver Gould, Thomas J. Ogden
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans at 30 °C and Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans at 47 °C were selected from a preliminary screening of various acidophiles for their ferric iron reduction capacities during anaerobic, autotrophic growth on sulfur. The selected cultures were used with a polymetallic sulfide ore under anoxic conditions to demonstrate enhanced solubilization of iron during leaching in shaken flasks and enhanced removal of iron from laboratory ore-leaching columns, compared to leaching with continuous aeration. Ore-associated, ferric iron-rich precipitates, which were formed under previously oxidizing conditions, were a potential influence on extraction of target metals and percolation through ore columns and were available as the source of ferric iron for anaerobic sulfur oxidation. Over twice as much iron was removed by moderate thermophiles when anoxic phases were introduced during the leaching. Enhanced removal of iron and some improvement in extraction of base metals from ore fragments were also demonstrated with a selected "Sulfolobus"-like strain during growth and leaching with alternating periods of aeration and anoxic conditions at 70 °C.

Funding

This work was funded by the European Commission Belgium under the Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Develop- ment (EU Promine Project, FP7-CP-IP, Project No. 22859.

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

Minerals Engineering

Volume

75

Pages

77 - 84

Citation

NORRIS, P.R., GOULD, O. and OGDEN, T.J., 2015. Iron solubilization during anaerobic growth of acidophilic microorganisms with a polymetallic sulfide ore. Minerals Engineering, 75, pp. 77-84.

Publisher

© Elsevier

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2015

Notes

This paper was accepted for publication in the journal Minerals Engineering and the definitive published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2014.12.004.

ISSN

0892-6875

Language

  • en

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