Bioleaching of silicate minerals by soil bacterium Bacillus mucilaginosus under Fe-limited conditions

摘要

Certain soil bacteria promote direct silicate minerals degradation in order to obtain and benefit from caged elements such as phosphorus, iron and magnesium. Bacillus mucilaginosus, a soil bacterium, was introduced to Bauxite chips with and without iron in the culture media. In the iron absence, Si concentration in culture media was significantly higher compared to iron presence. Higher Si concentrations in the medium indicate that B. mucilaginosus promotes silicate bioleaching and benefit from the released trapped iron. An artificial silicate matrix was tailored by sol-gel process doped with iron has been subjected to B. mucilaginosus degradation activity. Iron release was tracked by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) revealing etching of the artificial silicate and its release.