New Technology of Base Metals Precipitation by Hydrogen Sulfide Obtained Using Desulfurella acetivorans and Desulfurella kamchatkenis

Nowadays, efficient recovery of base metals from the solutions when processing gold ores is a topical issue. In this connection, the focus is on the use of hydrogen sulfide produced in bioreactors using sulfate-reducing (SRB) and sulfur-reducing bacteria. A new technology of biogenic hydrogen sulfide production followed by the precipitation of base metals from the solutions as sulfides was developed. The strains of anaerobic sulfidogenic thermophilic microorganisms: Desulfurella acetrivans and Desulfurella Kamchatkensis which were obtained at S.N.Vinogradsky Institute of Microbiology RAS, Moscow were used for these tests. They have anaerobic respiration using sodium acetate as an electron donor and elemental sulfur as an electron acceptor. In order to cut costs for biogenic hydrogen sulfide production, the possibility of using acetic acid as an electron donor was studied. Scaled-up test work was conducted in a 1.5L bioreactor at the temperature of 55°C, pH of 5.0, redox of-250mV and using POX solution with the content of C2+=5700.0 mg/L, Fe2+=4890.0 mg/L and Zn2+=1200.0 mg/ L. Selective precipitation of copper (at pH of ≤0.5), zinc (pH=1.0-2.0) and iron (II) (pH≥5.5) was carried out. Recycled gas contacted with the metals solutions (in a series of reactors for the precipitation of metals) coupled with the removal of hydrosulfuric acid from the recycled gas and the recovery of metals from the solution as sulfides. The precipitate was separated from the solutions by filtering. Then the filtrate was directed to the next stage. Carbon dioxide was removed from the recycled gas by filtrating through alkaline solution. After that, about 10% of ultra high purity nitrogen was added from the balloon and the recycled gas was again directed to the bioreactor. The average hydrogen sulfide reactor throughput was 1 g/L per day of culture medium. The total consumption of hydrogen sulfide was 1.28 g/L of the process solution. Results showed that this process can selectively recover metals from POX solutions with generation of high grade copper (50%), zinc (45%) and iron sulfide (45%) concentrates.