The use of reactors in biomining processes

Microbial processes applied to mining operations are gaining increasing interest in the last years. Potential and current applications include the mining of gold, copper and other heavy metals, desulfurization of coal and oil, tertiary recovery of oil and biosorption of metal ions. Currently, bacter...

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Autor principal: Acevedo,Fernando
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso 2000
Acceso en línea:http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582000000300002
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spelling oai:scielo:S0717-345820000003000022003-08-18The use of reactors in biomining processesAcevedo,Fernando Microbial processes applied to mining operations are gaining increasing interest in the last years. Potential and current applications include the mining of gold, copper and other heavy metals, desulfurization of coal and oil, tertiary recovery of oil and biosorption of metal ions. Currently, bacterial leaching of copper and biooxidation of refractory gold concentrates are well-established large-scale processes that are carried on using heaps and tank reactors. Heap operation is simple and adequate to handle large volumes of minerals, but their productivity and yields are limited because of the severe difficulties in exerting an adequate process control. On the other hand, reactors can economically handle moderate volumes of material, but they allow for a close control of the variables involved, rendering significantly better performances. This paper reviews the basis of reactor selection and design for bioleaching processes. Special attention is given to the influence of oxygen and carbon dioxide mass transfer, process stoichiometry, solids suspension and slurry homogeneity, and the use of bioreactors in gold mining. It is concluded that the future of reactors in biomining is promising and that new applications, such as the bioleaching of copper concentrates, will soon be a reality.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessPontificia Universidad Católica de ValparaísoElectronic Journal of Biotechnology v.3 n.3 20002000-12-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582000000300002en
institution Scielo Chile
collection Scielo Chile
language English
description Microbial processes applied to mining operations are gaining increasing interest in the last years. Potential and current applications include the mining of gold, copper and other heavy metals, desulfurization of coal and oil, tertiary recovery of oil and biosorption of metal ions. Currently, bacterial leaching of copper and biooxidation of refractory gold concentrates are well-established large-scale processes that are carried on using heaps and tank reactors. Heap operation is simple and adequate to handle large volumes of minerals, but their productivity and yields are limited because of the severe difficulties in exerting an adequate process control. On the other hand, reactors can economically handle moderate volumes of material, but they allow for a close control of the variables involved, rendering significantly better performances. This paper reviews the basis of reactor selection and design for bioleaching processes. Special attention is given to the influence of oxygen and carbon dioxide mass transfer, process stoichiometry, solids suspension and slurry homogeneity, and the use of bioreactors in gold mining. It is concluded that the future of reactors in biomining is promising and that new applications, such as the bioleaching of copper concentrates, will soon be a reality.
author Acevedo,Fernando
spellingShingle Acevedo,Fernando
The use of reactors in biomining processes
author_facet Acevedo,Fernando
author_sort Acevedo,Fernando
title The use of reactors in biomining processes
title_short The use of reactors in biomining processes
title_full The use of reactors in biomining processes
title_fullStr The use of reactors in biomining processes
title_full_unstemmed The use of reactors in biomining processes
title_sort use of reactors in biomining processes
publisher Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
publishDate 2000
url http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-34582000000300002
work_keys_str_mv AT acevedofernando theuseofreactorsinbiominingprocesses
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