Red mud (RM) is a highly alkaline polymetallic waste generated via the Bayer process during alumina production. It contains metals that are critical for a sustainable development of modern society. Due to a shortage of global resources of many metals, efficient large-scale processing of RM has been receiving increasing attention from both researchers and industry. This study investigated the solubilization of metals from RM, together with RM dealkalization, via sulfur (S0) oxidation catalyzed by the moderately thermophilic bacterium Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans. Optimization of the bioleaching process was conducted in shake flasks and 5-L bioreactors, with varying S0:RM mass ratios and aeration rates. The ICP analysis was used to monitor the concentrations of dissolved elements from RM, and solid residues were analyzed for surface morphology, phase composition, and Na distribution using the SEM, XRD, and STXM techniques, respectively. The results show that highest metal recoveries (89% of Al, 84% of Ce, and 91% of Y) were achieved with the S0:RM mass ratio of 2:1 and aeration rate of 1 L/min. Additionally, effective dealkalization of RM was achieved under the above conditions, based on the high rates (>95%) of Na, K, and Ca dissolution. This study proves the feasibility of using bacterially catalyzed S0 oxidation to simultaneously dealkalize RM and efficiently extract valuable metals from the amassing industrial waste.

One bioleaching bacterium, named as strain DXS, was isolated from acid mine drainages (AMDs) of Dongxiangshan Mine of Hami, Xinjiang Province, China. The strain DXS is gram-negative and rod-shaped with a size of (0.40±0.05) µm×(1.3±0.5) µm. The optimal temperature and pH for growth are 30 ℃ and pH 2.0, respectively. It can grow autotrophically by using ferrous iron, elemental sulfur and NaS 2 O 3 as sole energy sources. In the phylogenetic tree, strain DXS has similarity with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans type strain ATCC 23270 with 99.57% sequence similarity. The cloning and sequencing of Iro protein gene (iro) and tetrathionate hydrolase gene (tth) reveal that strain DXS is completely identical in iro gene sequence to A. ferrooxidans LY (DQ166841), and almost identical in tth gene sequene to A. ferrooxidans (AB259312) (only two nucleotides change). The bioleaching experiments of marmatite and pyrite reveal that the leached zinc and iron concentrations reach 3.01 g/L and 2.75 g/L, respectively. The strain has a well potential application in industry bioleaching.

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