Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.9
2.5
Journals
Minerals
Special Issues
Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals
share announcement

Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 11848

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Nag-Choul Choi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Interests: bioleaching; chemical leaching; SMS deposits; biosorption
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since sulfide minerals contain very important and useful metals in hydrothermal deposits, the investigation of the mineralogical properties of sulfide minerals is an important influencing factor in the process of recovering useful metals, such as mineral processes and smelting.

Future research on useful metal recovery processes should efficiently reduce the generation of pollutants and develop low-energy technologies.

Bioleaching for sulfide minerals is a technology that leaches useful metals using indigenous microorganisms (sulfide-oxidizing microorganisms, iron-oxidizing microorganisms, etc.). It is an ecofriendly and economical leaching technology compared to chemical leaching.

The relationship between the mineralogical, chemical, and biological properties of recovered minerals and indigenous microorganisms is an important factor in increasing bioleaching efficiency.

In addition, the eco-friendly mineral process has advantages such as simple process, low energy consumption, and high mineral recovery rate compared to general mineral process (eg, column flotation, electrochemical pretreatment, etc.).

Prof. Dr. Nag-Choul Choi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioleaching
  • indigenous microorganisms
  • sulfide mineral
  • biosorption
  • mineral process
  • recovery

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

13 pages, 1300 KiB  
Article
Continuous Bioleaching of Arsenic-Containing Copper-Zinc Concentrate and Shift of Microbial Population under Various Conditions
by Yuliya Elkina, Aleksandra Nechaeva, Alena Artykova, Aleksandr Kolosoff, Aliya Bugubaeva, Vitaliy Melamud, Andrey Mardanov and Aleksandr Bulaev
Minerals 2022, 12(5), 592; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min12050592 - 06 May 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1682
Abstract
The goal of this work was to study the bioleaching of arsenic-containing polymetallic concentrate that contained 6.2% Cu, 7.3% Zn and 1.7% As, depending on different temperatures and in the presence of CO2 and molasses in the medium, as well as the [...] Read more.
The goal of this work was to study the bioleaching of arsenic-containing polymetallic concentrate that contained 6.2% Cu, 7.3% Zn and 1.7% As, depending on different temperatures and in the presence of CO2 and molasses in the medium, as well as the difference in the composition of microbial population formed under various conditions. A mixed population of moderately thermophilic and thermotolerant acidophilic microorganisms formed during the continuous bioleaching of copper concentrate was used as an inoculum. The experiments were carried out in a continuous mode in laboratory scale reactors, with a temperature range of 40 °C to 60 °C. To assess the effect of CO2 and molasses on metal leaching and microbial population composition, the experiments were carried out in three reactors: CO2 (~0.01 L/min) was supplied into the first reactor; 0.02% molasses were added to the pulp of the second reactor; and no additional carbon sources were supplied into the control reactor. The highest copper recovery (27%) was achieved at 50°C in the experiment with molasses, while the highest zinc recovery (82.1%) was reached at 45°C in the control experiment. Additional carbon sources affected the extraction of non-ferrous metals only at 60 °C and increased the extraction of copper and zinc by 12.6% and 24.2%, respectively. Both the temperature and carbon source used affected the microbial population composition. The main microbial genera revealed in the populations by next generation sequencing (NGS) were bacteria of the genera Sulfobacillus and Acidithiobacillus, as well as archaea of the genera Ferroplasma, Acidiplasma, and Cuniculiplasma. At low temperatures (40 and 45 °C), Acidithiobacillus, Sulfobacillus, and Ferroplasma predominated, while at temperatures 50–55 °C, the decrease in relative abundance of these genera occurred, and the predominance of Acidiplasma archaea was observed. The usage of both CO2 and molasses led to the increase in Sulfobacillus and Acidiplasma in relative abundance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 1832 KiB  
Article
Carbon Sources as a Factor Determining the Activity of Microbial Oxidation of Sulfide Concentrate at Elevated Temperature
by Aleksandr Bulaev and Anna Boduen
Minerals 2022, 12(2), 110; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min12020110 - 19 Jan 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1342
Abstract
The goal of the present work was to evaluate the possibility of improving the efficiency of the stirred tank reactor biooxidation of sulfide gold-bearing concentrate by means of addition of carbon sources required for the constructive metabolism of microorganisms. Biooxidation experiments were performed [...] Read more.
The goal of the present work was to evaluate the possibility of improving the efficiency of the stirred tank reactor biooxidation of sulfide gold-bearing concentrate by means of addition of carbon sources required for the constructive metabolism of microorganisms. Biooxidation experiments were performed on gold-bearing pyrite-arsenopyrite concentrate in continuous mode at 45 °C to determine the influence of additional carbon sources (carbon dioxide and molasses) on sulfide mineral oxidation. The use of CO2 allowed increasing the efficiency of the biooxidation and the extents of sulfide sulfur (Ss) oxidation and gold recovery were 79% and 84%, respectively. Biooxidation in a control experiment (without additional carbon sources) and when using molasses allowed achieving 39% and 66% oxidation of Ss as well as 73% and 81% of gold recovery. Analysis of the microbial populations formed in biooxidation reactors using NGS methods demonstrated that CO2 application led to an increase in the relative abundance of the genus Sulfobacillus. Thus, it was determined that application of additional carbon source makes it possible to manage the biooxidation process, affecting both sulfide mineral oxidation and microbial population composition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 4407 KiB  
Article
Sulfuric Acid Baking—Water Leaching for Gold Enrichment and Arsenic Removal from Gold Concentrate
by Bongju Kim, Chulhyun Park, Kanghee Cho, Jaehyun Kim, Nagchoul Choi and Soonjae Lee
Minerals 2021, 11(12), 1332; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min11121332 - 28 Nov 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5053
Abstract
During the roasting of gold concentrate to improve gold recovery, arsenic is released into the air and valuable elements such as Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb are converted into oxide minerals. In this research, we evaluated the release of As and the loss [...] Read more.
During the roasting of gold concentrate to improve gold recovery, arsenic is released into the air and valuable elements such as Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb are converted into oxide minerals. In this research, we evaluated the release of As and the loss of valuable metals during the acid baking and hot water leaching processes used for gold concentrate. The acid bake tests were conducted for gold concentrate using an electric furnace by applying various concentrations of H2SO4 solution under different baking times. The water leaching process was enacted using 70 °C water for the baked samples. Chemical and mineral compositions of the raw and treated samples were analyzed using AAS and XRD, respectively. The results show that soluble metal sulfates, such as rhomboclase and mikasite, were formed in the baked samples, and that the leaching of valuable metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb) was accelerated during the hot water leaching procedure. During acid baking, arsenic was partially removed by volatilization, and the rest of the arsenic-containing minerals were converted to soluble minerals. The soluble arsenic-containing mineral resulted in a dissolution that was 60 times higher than in the roasted sample. The maximum gold grade of solid residues increased up to 33% through the acid baking–water leaching process. It was confirmed that acid baking with H2SO4 prevented As release into the air, as well as the recovery of valuable metals through hot water leaching, such as Fe, Cu, Zn, and Pb, which were formerly discarded in the tailings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

7 pages, 2018 KiB  
Article
Processing of Sulfide Copper-Nickel Ores from the Deposits in Murmansk Region by Heap Leaching
by Elena Yanishevskya, Nadezhda Fokina, Ekaterina Selivanova, Alena Kompanchenko, Dmitriy Makarov and Andrey Goryachev
Minerals 2021, 11(8), 820; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min11080820 - 28 Jul 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2777
Abstract
The feasibility of processing low-grade copper-nickel ores by heap bioleaching was investigated. It was found that an iron-oxidizing strain of acidophilic microorganisms, Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans, is effective in the leaching of sulfide ores from the deposits in Russia’s Murmansk region. Sulfide mineralization of [...] Read more.
The feasibility of processing low-grade copper-nickel ores by heap bioleaching was investigated. It was found that an iron-oxidizing strain of acidophilic microorganisms, Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans, is effective in the leaching of sulfide ores from the deposits in Russia’s Murmansk region. Sulfide mineralization of the studied mineral feeds was described using the methods of X-ray phase analysis and optical microscopy. In the process of leaching, the pH and Eh values and the concentrations of ferric and ferrous iron, nickel, and copper ions were monitored. By the end of the experiment, 16.5% of nickel and 7.5% of copper was recovered from the ore of the Allarechensk technogenic deposit, while 22.5% of nickel and 12.7% copper were recovered from the ore of the Nud II deposit. By silicate analysis of the solid phase, patterns of ore chemistry change were described during the process of bioleaching. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioleaching from Sulfide Minerals)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop