Role of Ag+ in the Bioleaching of Arsenopyrite by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Abstract

Arsenopyrite (FeAsS) is often associated with gold, but pre-treatment is necessary prior to gold leaching, mainly due to the gold encapsulation in the matrix of FeAsS. Bio-oxidation is attractive and promising, largely due to its simplicity, low cost and environmental friendliness. A critical problem that still impedes the large-scale applications of this green technology is its slow leaching kinetics. Some metal ions such as Ag+ have previously been found to expedite the bioleaching process. In this paper, the role of Ag+ in the arsenopyrite bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans was investigated in detail by bioleaching experiments and a series of analyses including thermodynamics, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Experimental results suggested that addition of 5 mg/L Ag+ to the leaching system could significantly improve the final As leaching efficiency from 30.4% to 47.8% and shorten the bioleaching period from 19 days to 15 days. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that Ag+ destabilises As2S2, As2S3 and S0 via forming Ag2S, which is confirmed by the XRD analysis on the phase transformation during bioleaching. SEM and XPS analyses further showed that Ag+ removed the passivating film consisting mainly of As2S2, As2S3 and S0 because Ag2S formed on the arsenopyrite surface from the start bioleaching of 36 h. In the presence of Fe3+, Ag2S could easily be dissolved to Ag+ again, likely leading to the establishment of the Ag+/Ag2S cycle. The bacteria utilised the two synergistic cycles of Fe3+/Fe2+ and Ag+/Ag2S to catalyse the bioleaching of arsenopyrite.

Utilisation of Acidithiobacillus Ferrooxidans Bacteria for Bioleaching of Waste Materials from Silver-Bearing Ore Mining

“…In their work, Zhang et al investigated the effect of Ag + [20] Cu 2+ [21] ions in the bioleaching of arsenopyrite using the bacteria A. ferrooxidans. The source of Ag + was AgNO3 and the source of Cu 2+ was CuSO4 5H2O.…”