Bioleaching of refractory gold ore （ Ⅱ ）——Mechanism on bioleaching of arsenopyrite by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

1　ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＢｉｏｌｅａｃｈｉｎｇｐｒｏｃｅｓｓｅｓｈａｖｅｂｅｅｎｕｓｅｄｅｘｔｅｎｓｉｖｅｌｙｔｏｒｅｃｏｖｅｒｂａｓｅｍｅｔａｌｓ (ｍａｉｎｌｙｃｏｐｐｅｒ)ａｎｄｕｒａｎｉｕｍｆｒｏｍｌｏｗ ｇｒａｄｅｏｒｅｓａｎｄｍｏｒｅｒｅｃｅｎ     

Study on bioleaching of primary chalcopyrite ore with thermoacidophilic archae

A high temperature-tolerating thermoacidophilic archae （TA） was isolated from water samples collected from a hot sulfur-containing spring in the Yunnan Province, China, and was used in bioleaching experiments of a low-grade chalcopyrite ore. The TA grow at temperatures ranging from 40 to 80℃, with 65℃ being the optimum temperature, and at pH values of l.5 to 4.0, with an optimum pH value of 2.0. The bioleaching experiments of the chalcvpyrite ore were conducted in both laboratory batch bioreactors and leaching columns. The results obtained from the bioreactor experiments showed that the TA bioleaching rate of copper reached 97% for a 12-day leaching period, while the bioleaching rate was 32.43% for thiobacillus ferrooxidans （Tf） leaching for the same leaching time. In the case of column leaching, tests of a two-phase leaching （196 days）, that is, a two-month （56 days） Tf leaching in the first phase, followed by a 140-day TA leaching in the second phase were performed. The average leaching rate of copper achieved for the 140-day TA leaching was 195mg/（L.d）, while for the control experiments, it was as low as 78mg/（L .d） for the Tf leaching, indicating that the TA possesses a more powerful oxidizing ability to the chalcopyrite than Tf Therefore, it is suggested that the two-phase leaching process be applied to .for the heap leaching operations, whereas, the TA can be used in the second phase when the temperature inside the heap has increased, and the primary copper sulfide minerals have already been partially oxidized with Tf beforehand in the first phase.     

Bioleaching of chalcocite by mixed microorganisms subjected to mutation

Mixed microorganisms with elevated activity of chalcocite-leaching were screened by mutation methods. The original microorganisms collected from acid mine drainage of different sites were mixed and then treated with mutagens NO₂⁻, diethyl sulfate (DES), UV and their combinations, respectively. Five groups of mixed microorganisms with much stronger ore-leaching ability were obtained by screening on the leaching media. Among them, group E of mixed microorganisms (treated with 1% DES for 60 min) with the best performance on chalcocite-leaching, increases the content of Cu²⁺ by 101.4% in 20 d of leaching compared with the control culture. In addition, group E is more tolerant to Cu²⁺ in media than the control without mutation treatment. Analysis for the diversity of microbial clones indicates that half of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in group E are Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. These observations suggest that group E might have potentials for industrial application. Foundation item: Project(50321402) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(2004CB619201) supported by the Major State Basic Research and Development Program of China     

生物浸矿反应器的制作及矿浆质量分数分布特征

以自制的生物浸矿反应器为对象,以反应器内矿浆质量分数分布为评价指标,就搅拌器搅拌方式、外循环流量及曝气大小对矿浆质量分数的分布进行了研究.结果表明:当搅拌速度为1800～2000 r/min,搅拌桨离曝气器顶部2～3 cm,外部循环流量为13 L/min,曝气量为1.2 m3/h时,反应器内矿浆质量分数分布均匀.并对总矿浆质量分数为6 %、10 %、15%和20%的反应器内矿浆质量分数随反应器高度的变化进行了研究.     

Bioleaching of pyrrhotite by Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans

The bioleaching of pyrrhotite was investigated using Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans.The effects of pH,pulp concentration,inoculation amount,external addition of ferrous and ferric ions were examined.The pH is found to exert a profound effect on the leaching process for controlling the bacterial activity and precipitation of ferric ions mainly as jarosite.The results show that low pulp content increases the leaching rate of iron.The inoculation amount from 1×107 cell/mL to 1×108 cell/mL has positive effects on the leaching rate.The results also imply that addition of ferrous sulfate（1 g/L） is required for the bacteria to efficiently drive the extraction of iron,however,the leaching efficiency has no obvious enhancement when 2 g/L ferrous sulfate was added.Comparatively,addition of ferric sulfate（2 g/L） significantly inhibits the bioleaching process.At the end of bioleaching,jarosite and sulfur are observed on the surface of pyrrhotite residues by using XRD and SEM.With the passivation film formed by jarosite and sulfur,the continuous iron extraction is effectively blocked.     

Bioleaching of refractory gold ore （ Ⅲ ）——Fluid leaching Jinya refractory gold concentrate by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

A novel fluidized-bed reactor was designed and installed for bloleaching in a semi-continuous way, by which a process for biuleaching-cyanidation of Jinya refractory gold arsenical concentrate was studied. The arsenic extraction rate reaches 82.5 % after 4-day batch biooxidation of the concentrate under the optimized condition of pH 2.0, ferric ion concentration 6.Sg/L and pulp concentration 10%. And leached rate of gold in the following cyanida.tion is over 90%. The parameters of three series fluidized-bed reactors exhibit stability during the semi-continuous bioleaching of the concentrate.Armmic in the concentrate can be got rid of 91% after 6-day leaching. Even after 4 days, 82% of arsenic extraction rate was still obtained. The recovery rates of gold are 92 % and 87.5 % respectively in cyaniding the above bioleached residues.The results will provide a base for further commercial production of gold development.     

难处理硫化矿生物湿法冶金研究进展（Ⅰ）微生物氧化工艺技术研究

生物湿法冶金技术与传统矿业氧化工艺相比，成本低、无污染，具有广阔的工业应用前景。本文着重评述了国内外在浸矿微生物、培养基的优化、细菌的接种量、温度、酸度、矿石粒度、矿浆浓度、浸出液中As(Ⅲ)和As(Ⅴ)浓度等方面的研究进展。     

Growth kinetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans in bioelectrochemical cell

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans might be the most important bacteria used in biometallurgy. The foundation way of its growth process is oxidizing ferrous in order to obtain energy needed for metabolism, but the variation of ferrous concentration and mixed potential of the culture media would have crucial effect on the bacteria growth.Based on the characteristics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans growth and redox potential of ferric and ferrous, an electrochemical cell was designed conventionally to study growth rule and the relationship between redox potential and bacteria growth was built up, and some growth kinetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans were elucidated. It demonstrates that the variation of open potential of electrochemical cell ΔE shows the growth tendency of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, at the initial growth stage, the value of ΔE increases slowly, when at logistic growth stage, it increases drastically, and the growth rate of bacteria is linear with the oxidation rate of ferrous. The bacteria growth kinetics model is proposed using Monod and Michealis-Menten equation, and the kinetics parameters are got. The consistence of the measured and the calculated results proves that it is proper to use the proposed kinetics model and the electrochemical cell method to describe the growth rule of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans.     

Growth kinetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans in bioelectrochemical cell

Thiobacillus ferrooxidans might be the most important bacteria used in biometallurgy. The foundation way of its growth process is oxidizing ferrous in order to obtain energy needed for metabolism, but the variation of ferrous concentration and mixed potential of the culture media would have crucial effect on the bacteria growth. Based on the characteristics of Thiobacillus ferroxidans growth and redox potential of ferric and ferrous, an electrochemical cell was designed conventionally to study growth rule and the relationship between redox potential and bacteria growth was built up, and some growth kinetics of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans were elucidated. It demonstrates that the variation of open potential of electrochemical cell ΔE shows the growth tendency of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, at the initial growth stage, the value of δE increases slowly, when at logistic growth stage, it increases drastically, and the growth rate of bacteria is linear with the oxidation rate of ferrous. The bacteria growth kinetics model is proposed using Monod and Michealis-Menten equation, and the kinetics parameters are got. The consistence of the measured and the calculated results proves that it is proper to use the proposed kinetics model and the electrochemical cell method to describe the growth rule of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. Foundation item: Project (50204001) supported by the National Science Foundation of China     

金堆城低品位辉钼矿的可浸性

采用细菌和化学浸出方法研究金堆城低品位辉钼矿的可浸性。结果表明，酸性（硫酸）介质下的细菌氧化浸出和化学氧化浸出，钼易与一些金属离子（如Fe，Ca，Al）生成不溶性的化合物，钼浸出率很低。低浓度次氯酸钠（NaClO）氧化浸出工艺回收低品位辉钼矿的钼是可行的。保持浸液pH=9～11，有效氯浓度15g／L的NaClO能有效浸出钼.