Bioleaching of chalcopyrite by pure and mixed culture

The bioleaching of chalcopyrite in shake flasks was investigated by using pure Acidithiobacillusferrooxidans and mixed culture isolated from the acid mine drainage in Yushui and Dabaoshan Copper Mine in China, marked as YS and DB, respectively. The mixed culture consisted mainly of Acidithiobacillus fOrrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans, and Leptospirillum spp. （Leptospirillum ferriphilum and Leptospirillum ferrooxians）. The results show that the mixed culture is more efficient than the pure Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans because of the presence of the sulfur-oxidizing cultures that positively increase the dissolution rate and the recovery of copper from chalcopyrite. The pH value decreases with the decrease of chalcopyrite leaching rate, because of the formation ofjarosite as a passivation layer on the mineral surface during bioleaching. In the bioleaching using the mixed culture, low pH is got from the sulfur oxidizing inhibiting, the formation ofjarosite. The copper extraction reaches 46.27% in mixed culture and 30.37% in pure Acidithiobacillusferrooxidans after leaching for 75 d.     

Bioleaching of low grade nickel sulfide mineral in column reactor

Jinchuan low grade nickel （0.4%-0.6% Ni, mass fraction） sulfide mineral ore contains a remarkably high content of magnesia （30%-35% MgO, mass fraction） present in the main gangue minerals. Bioleaching was performed to investigate the feasibility to process the mineral due to its relative simplicity, eco-friendly operation and low capital cost requirements. The mixed mesophiles were enriched from acid mine drainage samples collected from several acid mines in China. Considering that the magnesia is easily extracted by acid solution and the excessive Mg^2＋ will exceed the tolerance of the mixed mesophiles, three effective means were used to reduce the disadvantage of magnesia during the bioleaching operation. They were adaptation of the mixed mesophiles to improve the tolerance; pre-leaching to remove most leachable magnesia and periodic bleeds of a portion of the pregnant leaching solution to control the level of Mg^2＋ based on the tolerance of the mixed mesophiles. An extraction of nickel （90.3%） and cobalt （88.6%） was successfully achieved within a 300 d leaching process from the Jinchuan low grade nickel sulfide mineral ore using a column reactor at ambient temperature.     

嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌的耐Mg^2＋驯化试验研究

考察了嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌(A.t)对Mg2 的耐受能力,进行了细菌耐Mg2 驯化试验.结果表明,通过驯化,细菌对Mg2 的耐受能力大幅度增强,可用于高MgO含量的硫化镍矿的细菌浸出.