Research progress in enhanced bioleaching of copper sulfides under the intervention of microbial communities

Compared with the traditional pyrometallurgical process, copper bioleaching has distinctive advantages of high efficiency and lower cost, enabling efficiently extracts of valuable metal resources from copper sulfides. Moreover, during long-term industrial applications of bioleaching, many regulatory enhancements and technological methods are used to accelerate the interfacial reactions. With advances in microbial genetic and sequencing technologies, bacterial communities and their mechanisms in bioleaching systems have been revealed gradually. The bacterial proliferation and dissolution of sulfide ores by a bacterial community depends on the pH, temperature, oxygen, reaction product regulation, additives, and passivation substances, among other factors. The internal relationship among the influencing factors and the succession of microorganism diversity are discussed and reviewed in this paper. This paper is intended to provide a good reference for studies related to enhanced bioleaching.

Visualization of flow behavior in ore-segregated packed beds with fine interlayers

Ore particles,especially fine interlayers,commonly segregate in heap stacking,leading to undesirable flow paths and changeable flow velocity fields of packed beds.Computed tomography(CT),COMSOL Multiphysics,and MATLAB were utilized to quantify pore structures and visualize flow behavior inside packed beds with segregated fine interlayers.The formation of fine interlayers was accompanied with the segregation of particles in packed beds.Fine particles reached the upper position of the packed beds during stacking.CT revealed that the average porosity of fine interlayers(24.21%)was significantly lower than that of the heap packed by coarse ores(37.42%),which directly affected the formation of flow paths.Specifically,the potential flow paths in the internal regions of fine interlayers were undeveloped.Fluid flowed and bypassed the fine interlayers and along the sides of the packed beds.Flow velocity also indicated that the flow paths easily gathered in the pore throat where flow velocity(1.8×10^-5 m/s)suddenly increased.Fluid stagnant regions with a flow velocity lower than 0.2×10^-5 m/s appeared in flow paths with a large diameter.

Simulation of solute transportation within porous particles during the bioleaching process

A mathematical model, accounting for the sulfuric acid and ferric ions diffusion and the copper sulfide mineral leaching process, was developed for an ore particle by considering its porous structure. It was simulated with the simulation tool COMSOL Multiphysics. The simulation results show that the highest acid and ferric concentrations near the particle surface are apparent, while the concentrations in the central particle increase slightly as the less-porous ore core with low permeability prevents the oxidation from penetrating. The extraction of the mineral near the particle surface is the maximum, mainly because of ample sulfuric acid, ferric ions, bacteria, and oxygen available for the leaching process. Because of low oxidation concentration in the central part of the particle, the reaction rate and copper sulphide conversion are small. The simulation shows good agreement with the experimental results.

Agglomeration and leaching behaviors of copper oxides with different chemical binders

The chemical binder is one of the critical factors affecting ore agglomeration behavior and leaching efficiency.In this study,we in-vestigated the effect of the type of binder and mass fraction of the H_(2)SO_(4)solution used on the curing,soaking,and leaching behavior of ag-glomerations.The results revealed that Portland cement(3CaO·SiO_(2),2CaO·SiO_(2),and 3CaO·Al_(2)O_(3))was the optimal binder for obtaining a well-shaped,stable agglomeration structure.A higher extraction rate was achieved when using Portland cement than that obtained using sodi-um silicate,gypsum,or acid-proof cement.An excessive geometric mean size is not conducive to obtaining well-shaped agglomerations and desirable porosity.Using computed tomography(CT)and MATLAB,the porosity of two-dimensional CT images in sample concentrations L1-L3 was observed to increase at least 4.5vol%after acid leaching.Ore agglomerations began to be heavily destroyed and even to disinteg-rate when the sulfuric acid solution concentration was higher than 30 g/L,which was caused by the excessive accumulation of reaction products and residuals.

Effects of bioleaching on the mechanical and chemical properties of waste rocks

Bioleaching processes cause dramatic changes in the mechanical and chemical properties of waste rocks, and play an important role in metal recovery and dump stability. This study focused on the characteristics of waste rocks subjected to bioleaching. A series of ex- periments were conducted to investigate the evolution of rock properties during the bioleaching process. Mechanical behaviors of the leached waste rocks, such as failure patterns, normal stress, shear strength, and cohesion were determined through mechanical tests. The results of SEM imaging show considerable differences in the surface morphology of leached rocks located at different parts of the dump. The minera- logical content of the leached rocks reflects the extent of dissolution and precipitation during bioleaching. The dump porosity and rock size change under the effect of dissolution, precipitation, and clay transportation. The particle size of the leached rocks decreased due to the loss of rock integrity and the conversion of dry precipitation into fine particles.

Review and prospects of bioleaching in the Chinese mining industry

As the world’s second largest economy experiencing rapid economic growth,China has a huge demand for metals and energy.In recent years,China ranks first,among all the countries in the world,in the production and consumption of several metals such as copper,gold,and rare earth elements.Bioleaching,which is an approach for mining low grade and refractory ores,has been applied in industrial production,and bioleaching has made great contributions to the development of the Chinese mining industry.The exploration and application of bioleaching in China are reviewed in this study.Production and consumption trends of several metals in China over the past decade are reviewed.Technological processes at key bioleaching operations in China,such as at the Zijinshan Copper Mine and Mianhuakeng Uranium Mine,are presented.Also,the current challenges faced by bioleaching operations in China are introduced.Moreover,prospects such as efficiency improvement and environmental protection are proposed based on the current situation in the Chinese bioleaching industry.

Unsaturated flow and solute transport in a porous column using spherical ore particles

This paper dealt with the development of a two-dimensional （2D） mathematical model for column leaching and confirmed the important simulation parameters through experiment. The unsaturated state of the variably saturated flow column and the solute transport of copper ions were studied during leaching. The fluid flow problem was handled using the Richards equation on the premise of an ambient pressure column air, where the van Genuchten formulas were applied to define the nonlinear relationships of pressure head with the retention and permeability properties. The ore column permeability test gave a varied hydraulic conductivity, which was analyzed in the model. In the solute transport problem, the copper ion concentration was solved using the advection-diffusion-reaction equation whose reaction term was determined by the joint analysis of experimental copper leaching rate and the shrinking core model. Particle-and column-scale leaching tests were carried out to illustrate the difference and connection of copper extraction in both processes. This fluid flow and solute transport cou-pled model was determined through the finite element method using the numerical simulation software, COMSOL Multiphysics.