Biorecovery of metals from acid mine drainage

摘要

This paper evaluates an efficient and economic method to selectively recover the dissolved metals present in acid mine drainage systems using sulfate reducing bacteria. In the present study, unlike the conventional treatment, the chemical precipitation of metal sulfates is separated from the biological component of the process. Experiments were performed to obtain optimum pH for selective metal precipitation. These results are compared with the predicted values generated from a thermodynamic equilibrium program. The kinetic parameters for growth of sulfate reducing bacteria at different temperatures and pH are also reported.