Abstract:To estimate the relationships among bioleaching performance, additional elemental sulfur (S⁰), microbial population dynamics and its energy metabolism, bioleaching of chalcopyrite by three typical sulfur- and/or iron-oxidizing bacteria, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Leptospirillum ferriphilum and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans with different levels of sulfur were studied in batch shake flask cultures incubated at 30 °C. Copper dissolution capability (71%) was increased with the addition of 3.193 g/L S⁰, compared to that (67%) without S⁰. However, lower copper extraction was obtained in bioleaching with excessive sulfur. Microbial population dynamics during chalcopyrite bioleaching process was monitored by using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Additional S⁰ accelerated the growth of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, inhibited the iron-oxidizing metabolism and led to the decrease of iron-oxidizing microorganisms, finally affected iron concentration, redox potential and bioleaching performance. It is suggested that mixed iron and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms with further optimized additional S⁰ concentration could improve copper recovery from chalcopyrite.

Key words: bioleaching; sulfur oxidization; iron oxidization; microbial community; chalcopyrite