CINDEFI   05381
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION Y DESARROLLO EN FERMENTACIONES INDUSTRIALES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Recovery of nickel and zinc using biogenerated sulphuric acid
Autor/es:
YAGNENTKOVSKY N.; VIERA M.; DONATI E.
Revista:
ADVANCED MATERIALS RESEARCH
Editorial:
Trans Tech Publications Ltd
Referencias:
Año: 2009 vol. 73 p. 649 - 652
ISSN:
1022-6680
Resumen:
Sludge generated in automotive and related industries often contains heavy metals.
Bioleaching is an attractive alternative for the treatment of metal containing solids. Bacteria of the
genus Acidithiobacillus are the most important microorganisms applied to metal solubilisation.
These microorganisms are able to produce sulphuric acid from the aerobic oxidation of elemental
sulphur. The biogenerated sulphuric acid can be applied to the solubilisation of metals from a solid
matrix. In this paper we present the results of our experiments aimed at the removal of nickel and
zinc from sludge generated in the water treatment plant of an automotive industry. Acidithiobacillus
thiooxidans cells were immobilised on sulphur pearls in a column reactor. The effects of sulphur
pulp density and the dilution rate on the production of sulphuric acid were studied. In a second
stage, sulphuric acid was used to solubilise the nickel and zinc from the sludge. The effects of
different sludge pulp densities and initial acid pH were studied. High recoveries of zinc and nickel
were obtained when the pH value of the sulphuric acid solution was lower than 2.0 for 1 and 2 % of
pulp density.
Introduction