BIOLEACHING OF COPPER SULPHIDES FLOTATION CONCENTRATE USING CONSORPTIUM OF MESOPHILES AND TERMOPHILES MICROORGANISMS

摘要

The use of a microbial consortium in the column bioleaching process was quite effective regarding the digestion of refractory sulphides, where 79% of copper was extracted within 60 days of test.The concentrations of ferrous and ferric ions, during the test, are directly related with the values of redox potential, because it was possible to observe that when the Fe~(3+) concentration increased, reaching concentration higher than 5 g/L, the redox potential also increased, providing higher extraction rate.