Bioleaching of vanadium from stone coal vanadium ore by Bacillus mucilaginosus:Influencing factors and mechanism

Vanadium and its derivatives are used in various industries,including steel,metallurgy,pharmaceuticals,and aerospace engineering.Although China has massive reserves of stone coal resources,these resources have low grades.Therefore,the effective extraction and recovery of metallic vanadium from stone coal is an important way to realize the efficient resource utilization of stone coal vanadium ore.Herein,Bacillus mucilaginosus was selected as the leaching strain.The vanadium leaching rate reached 35.5%after 20 d of bioleaching under optimal operating conditions.The cumulative vanadium leaching rate in the contact group reached 35.5%,which was higher than that in the noncontact group(9.3%).The metabolites of B.mucilaginosus,such as oxalic,tartaric,citric,and malic acids,dominated in bioleaching,accounting for 73.8%of the vanadium leaching rate.Interestingly,during leaching,the presence of stone coal stimulated the expression of carbonic anhydrase in bacterial cells,and enzyme activity increased by 1.335-1.905 U.Enzyme activity positively promoted the production of metabolite organic acids,and total organic acid content increased by 39.31 mg·L^(-1),resulting in a reduction of 2.51 in the pH of the leaching system with stone coal.This effect favored the leaching of vanadium from stone coal.Atomic force microscopy illustrated that bacterial leaching exacerbated corrosion on the surface of stone coal beyond 10 nm.Our study provides a clear and promising strategy for exploring the bioleaching mechanism from the perspective of microbial enzyme activity and metabolites.

Effects of the mineral phase and valence of vanadium on vanadium extraction from stone coal

The influence of roasting on the leaching rate and valence of vanadium was evaluated during vanadium extraction from stone coal. Vanadium in stone coal is hard to be leached and the leaching rate is less than 10% when the raw ore is leached by 4 moUL H2SO4 at 90℃ for 2 h. After the sample is roasted at 900℃ for 2 h, the leaching rate of vanadium reaches the maximum, and more than 70% of vanadium can be leached. The crystal of vanadium-bearing mica minerals decomposes and the Content of V（V） increases with the rise of roasting temperature from 600 to 900℃, therefore the leaching rate of vanadium increases significantly with the decomposition of the mica minerals. Some new phases, anorthite for example, form when the roasting temperature reaches 1000℃. A part of vanadium may be enwrapped in the sintered materials and newly formed phases, which may impede the oxidation of low valent vanadium and make the leaching rate of vanadium drop dramatically. The leaching rate of vanadium is not only determined by the valence state of vanadium but also controlled by the decomposition of vanadium-bearing minerals and the existence state of vanadium to a large extent.

Fluidized roasting reduction kinetics of low-grade pyrolusite coupling with pretreatment of stone coal

Based on the fluidized roasting reduction technology of low-grade pyrolusite coupling with pretreatment of stone coal, the manganese reduction efficiency was investigated and technical conditions were optimized. It is found that the optimum manganese reduction efficiency can be up to 98.97% under the conditions that the mass ratio of stone coal to pyrolusite is 3：1, the roasting temperature of stone coal is 1000℃, the roasting temperature of pyrolusite is 800℃, and the roasting time is 2 h. Other low-grade pyrolusite ores in China from Guangxi, Hunan, and Guizhou Provinces were tested and all these minerals responded well, giving -99% manganese reduction efficiency. Meanwhile, the reduction kinetic model has been established. It is confirmed that the reduction process is controlled by the interface chemical reaction. The apparent activation energy is 36.397 kJ/mol.