3. Bioextraction of metals
3.1 Different methods of microbiological extraction of metals from aqueous solutions
Biological concentration comes into play in a number of ways.
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Adsorption to the cell surface
The negatively charged cell surface, due to the presence of carboxylate, hydryl and phosphate groups in cell wall polymers, captures metal cations. Uncharged groups, such as nitrogen peptides, can act as ligands to complement the metal cation coordination sites.
Different microorganisms have different charge distributions and geometries, which can selectively retain certain metal cations. Metal retention capacity is also pH-dependent, due to the protonation of these groups.
Fungi and...
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Bioextraction of metals
Biodegradation of organic reagent: cyanide
Bibliography
Software tools
Balance sheet calculation tools for the extractive minerals industry (USIMPAC, BILCO, INVENTEO & ECHANT) – CASPEO : http://www.caspeo.net/
Websites
BioMinE, the film "The Invisible Miners" as an introduction to biohydrometallurgy and a visit to KCC's facility in Uganda on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMkH1rcj38
Minerals Engineering Online: http://www.min-eng.com/index.html
...Events
Biohydrometallurgy: a symposium on the applications of biohydrometallurgy, sponsored by the journal Minerals Engineering, held every two years in England and South Africa alternately.
http://www.min-eng.com/biohydromet18/paps.html
International Biohydrometallurgy Symposium: a symposium on scientific advances...
Patents
A process for the leaching of chalcopyrite – Patent WO 38/39491 – Applicant and inventor: Anthony PINCHES.
Process for continuous treatment of sulfide minerals for metal recovery – Patent FR 96.01748 – Inventors: D. MORIN and P. OLLIVIER.
Process and apparatus for continuous treatment of copper sulfide minerals – Patent FR 99.11178 – Inventors D. MORIN, P. NORRIS.
Directory
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Milton Roy Mixing : http://miltonroymixing.com
BACTECH: http://www.bactechgreen.com/
BHP : http://www.bhp.com
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There's no denying that bioleaching occupies a growing niche covering primary and secondary resources (residues and by-products) with low recoverable metal content and containing penalizing elements such as arsenic.
This is evidenced by the strong growth in the number of demonstration and industrial-scale facilities tackling an ever wider range of substances, whether in static (figure...
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