Biomodulation of Sulfide Minerals for Environment-friendly Beneficiation
Arsenopyrite is often associated with sulphides like pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena in refractory gold ores. Selective flotation of arsenopyrite from associated sulphides is desirable for effective gold extraction when the gold is preferentially associated with the arsenopyrite matrix. By contrast,presence of arsenopyrite in flotation tailings poses a serious environmental threat due to arsenic dissolution. To prevent arsenic contamination from the mine wastes, it would be more economical and environmentally beneficial to remove this mineral during the froth flotation step. Use of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans in the detoxification of arsenic containing sulphides is outlined in this paper.Biomodulation using Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans resulted in the preferential depression of pyrite from arsenopyrite. By suitable conditioning with cells and collector effective separation of arsenopyrite from pyrite was achieved. Biomodulation with wild cells did not yield separation of arsenopyrite from chalcopyrite. However, bacterial affinity could be induced to a desired sulfide mineral through environmentally controlled adaptation techniques. Through the use of arsenic-adapted bacterial cells, selective removal of arsenopyrite from chalcopyrite was readily achieved.
Biomodulation Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans Arsenopyrite Pyrite Chalcopyrite Selective separation
M.N. Chandraprabha K.A. Natarajan
Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
国际会议
XXIV International Mineral Processing Congress(第24届国际矿物加工大会)
北京
英文
2694-2700
2008-09-24（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）