中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
Vol. 23 No. 12 December 2013 |
(1. School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Key Laboratory of Biohydrometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)
Abstract:The variation of microbial community structure was investigated for the tank bioleaching process of Pb-Zn-Sn chalcopyrite concentrate in the presence of mixed moderately thermophilic bacteria. The parameters, such as pH value, solution potential and concentrations of metal ions, were determined by the method of polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) to analyze the succession of microbial community. The results showed that a final copper extraction rate of 85.6% could be obtained after tank bioleaching for 30 d. The Acidithiobacillus caldus was the dominant population with abundance of about 73.80% in the initial stage, then Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans dominated from the 18th day to the end of bioleaching, while the abundance of Leptospirillum ferriphilum changed slightly. A higher solution potential within a certain range and appropriate concentration of ferric ions were essential for this tank bioleaching of chalcopyrite.
Key words: chalcopyrite; tank bioleaching; microbial community; PCR-RFLP technique