Journal
WATER RESEARCH
Volume 43, Issue 3, Pages 853-861Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2008.11.023
Keywords
Metal recovery; Sulfate reduction; Metal-sulfide; Hydrogen; Nickel; Iron
Funding
- European Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Development BioMinE project [NMP1-CT-500329-1]
- European Commission
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Process streams with high concentrations of metals and sulfate are characteristic for the mining and metallurgical industries. This study aims to selectively recover nickel from a nickel-iron-containing solution at pH 5.0 using a single stage bioreactor that simultaneously combines low pH sulfate reduction and metal-sulfide formation. The results show that nickel was selectively precipitated in the bioreactor at pH 5.0 and the precipitates consisted of >= 83% of the nickel content. The nickel-iron precipitates were partly crystalline and had a metal/sulfur ratio of 1, suggesting these precipitates were NiS and FeS. Experiments focusing on nickel recovery at pH 5.0 and 5.5 reached a recovery of >99.9%, resulting in a nickel effluent concentration <0.05 mu M. The mixed microbial population included known sulfate reducers and acetogens. This study shows that selective metal precipitation in a single stage sulfate reducing bioreactor operated at low pH has the potential to produce metal-sulfides that can be used by the metallurgical industry as a resource for metal production. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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