• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.251-265
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• 2010

A column bioleaching experiment at room temperature with no addition of sulfuric acid was effectively carried out to leach the valuable elements from pyrite, which is common mine waste. The Fe concentration of pyrite leachate from bioleaching column was 14 times higher than that of the control leachate, and secondary minerals were not formed. The $SO_4^{2-}$ concentration of the pyrite leachate was 2.99 times higher. The XRD intensity of the (111), (200), (220), (311), (222), (230) and (321) planes of pyrite decreased, whereas the intensity of (210) and (211) increased after column bioleaching.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.69-77
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• 2015

Heap bioleaching for detoxification of mine tailings is a promising technology; however, long-term studies that aim to understand the potential of this process are scarce. Therefore, this study assesses the feasibility of column bioleaching as an alternative technology for treatment of mine tailings with high concentrations of arsenic during a long-term experiment (436 days). To accomplish this objective, we designed a 350-mm plastic column that was packed with 750 g of mine tailings and inoculated with an acidophilic bacterial culture composed of A. thiooxidans and A. ferrooxidans. Redox potential, pH, ferric ion generation, and arsenic concentration of the off-solution were continuously monitored to determine the efficiency of the technology. After 436 days, we obtained up to 70% arsenic removal. However, several drops in removal rates were observed during the process; this was attributed to the harmful effect of arsenic on the bacteria consortium. We expect that this article will serve as a technical note for further studies on heap bioleaching of mine tailings.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.119-122
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• 2005

As it is known that the korean coastal fishing areas are getting contaminated by heavy metals from the sediment, the authors conducted the experiments to treat the heavy metals with bioleaching process. As a result, it is found that (1) acidification for the leaching of heavy metals is effectively processed when adding more than $0.3\%$ of sulfur and $0.1\%$ of ferrous sulfate. and (2) copper is rapidly solubilized irrespective of addition of sulfur, while solubilization is not processed even of FeS is added., and (3) bioleaching with sulfur and FeSO4 is possible method to effectively treat the heavy metals form the contaminated sediments.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to optimize the experimental conditions for bioleaching of arsenic (As) using Herbaspirillum sp. GW103 and to understand the interaction between bacteria and As during bioleaching. Five variables, temperature, time, CaCO₃, coconut oil cake, and shaking rate, were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) based Box-Behnken design (BBD). Maximum (73.2%) bioleaching of As was observed at 30℃, 60 h incubation, 1.75% CaCO₃, 3% coconut oil cake, and 140 rpm. Sequential extraction of bioleached soil revealed that the isolate Herbaspirillum sp. GW103 significantly reduced 28.6% of water soluble fraction and increased 38.8% of the carbonate fraction. The results of the study indicate that the diazotrophic bacteria Herbaspirillum sp. could be used for bioleaching As from mine soil.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.30-44
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• 2011

This review describes the involvement of different microorganisms for the recovery of uranium from the ore. Mainly Acidithiobacillus forrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans are found to be the most widely used bacteria in the bioleaching process of uranium. The bioleaching of uranium generally follows indirect mechanism in which bacteria provide the ferric iron required to oxidize $U^{4+}$. Commercial applications of bioleaching have been incorporated for extracting valuable metals, due to its favorable process economics and reduced environmental problems compared to conventional metal recovery processes such as smelting. At present the uranium is recovered through main bioleaching techniques employed by heap, dump and in situ leaching. Process development has included recognition of the importance of aeration of bioheaps, and improvements in stirred tank reactor design and operation. Concurrently, knowledge of the key microorganisms involved in these processes has advanced, aided by advances in molecular biology to characterize microbial populations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.83-84
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• 2005

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.30-40
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• 2021

The present study investigates the bioleaching efficiencies of arsenic via contact and non-contact mechanisms. The attachment of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was restricted by a partition system comprising a semi-permeable membrane with a molecular weight cutoff of 12-14 kDa. The results were compared for two arsenic concentrations in the system (1.0% and 0.5% w/v) to maintain a homogeneous system. The overall bacterial performance was monitored by comparing total arsenic and iron concentrations, Fe ion speciation, pH, and solution redox potentials in flask bioleaching experiments over a period of 10 d. Our results indicated that bacterial attachment could increase arsenic extraction efficiency from 20.0% to 44.9% at 1.0 % solid concentrations. These findings suggest that the bacterial contact mechanism greatly influences arsenic bioleaching from mine tailings. Therefore, systems involving two-step or non-contact bioleaching are less effective than those involving one-step or contact bioleaching for the efficient extraction of arsenic from mine tailings.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.159-164
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• 2001

A novel fluidized-bed reactor was designed and installed for bioleaching in a semi-continuous way, by which a process for bioleaching-cyanidation of Guangxi Jinya refractory gold arsenical concentrate was studied. An arsenic extraction rate reaches 82.5% after 4-day batch biooxidation of the concentrate under the optimized condition of pH 2.0, ftrric ion concentration 6.5g/L and pulp concentration 10%. And leaching rate of gold in the following gold cyanidation is over 90%. The parameters of three series fluid-bed reactors exhibit stability during the semi-continuous bioleaching of the concentrate. Arsenic 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.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.199-206
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• 2014

Dewatering is an extremely important step in wastewater treatment process to reduce the final sludge volume in order to minimize the cost of sludge transportation and disposal. In the present study, the effect of different sludge solids content (1, 2 and 3.8%) on the dewaterability of anaerobically digested sludge using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans was studied. The pH reduction rate was higher during initial process in the sludge having low solids content, but after 48 h of bioleaching, similar pH of below 3 was observed with all the different solids content. Bio-oxidation rate of $Fe^{2+}$ was initially higher in sludge with low solids content, but 100% $Fe^{2+}$ was oxidized within 60 h in all the three treatment levels. Compared to the control, specific resistance to filtration was reduced by 75, 78 and 80% in the sludge with a solids content of 1, 2 and 3.8% respectively, showing improvement in dewaterability with an increase in sludge solids content. Sludge effluent quality and sludge settling rate were also improved in treatments with higher solids content after the bioleaching process.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.9-18
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• 2012

This study was carried out to leach valuable metal ions from the mine waste ore using the adapted indigenous bacteria. In order to tolerance the heavy metals, the indigenous bacteria were repeatedly subcultured in the adaptation-medium containing $CuSO_4{\cdot}5H_2O$ for 3 weeks and 6 weeks, respectively. As the adaptation experiment processed, the pH was rapidly decrease in the adaptation-medium of 6 weeks more than the 3 weeks. The result of bioleaching with the adapted bacteria for 42 days, the pH value of leaching-medium in the 3 weeks tend to increased, whereas the pH of the 6 weeks decreased. In decreasing the pH value in the adaptation-medium and in the leaching-medium, it was identified that the indigenous bacteria were adapted $Cu^{2+}$ the ion and the mine waste ores. The contents of Cu, Fe and Zn in the leaching solution were usually higher leached in 6 weeks than 3 weeks due to the adaptation. Considering the bioleaching rates of Cu, Fe and Zn from these leaching solutions, the highest increasing the efficiency metal ion were found to be Fe. Accordingly, it is expected that the more valuable element ions can be leached out from the any mine waste, if the adapted bacteria with heavy metals will apply in future bioleaching experiments.