Influence of Citrate on Metal Dissolution and Respiration Rate of Microbial Leaching Cultures

摘要

The application of acidophilic iron oxidizing bacteria is an established technique in tank and heap leaching of mainly sulfidic minerals. Even though bioleaching is broadly studied, there are still several issues to solve. Especially, the formation of iron precipitates, leading to co-precipitation of valuable metals, as well as the inhibition due to coating, considerably decrease the leaching efficiency. Consequently, the addition of chelating agents should result in an increased dissolution rate. However, organic acids, which have chelating characteristics, are generally regarded as highly toxic for leaching bacteria. Nonetheless, we found that both the addition of sodium citrate and citric acid leads to an increased iron oxidation rate of 42% and 84%, respectively, compared to standard culture medium without citrate. Chemical leaching tests with ZnS and ferric iron showed similar concentrations of dissolved zinc with and without citrate. However, the actual leaching efficiency is yet to be evaluated.