Integrated bacterial process foor treatment of a spent nickel catalyst

V.E. BOSIO, M. VIERA, E. DONATI

JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2007 vol. 154 p. 804 - 810

0304-3894

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 3.0cm 70.85pt 3.0cm; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> Integrated biological processes involving the dissolution and sbsequent precipitation have been used for the treatment of the spent material from the hydrogenation of vegetable oil containing a high-level of nickel. Our results show that nickel was successufully leached using . The percentages of nickel leached using A. thiooxidans were higer than those obtained with dilute sulphuric acid solutions. Due to the physical characteristics of the residue, the best results were obteined when the leaching process was carried out using sulphuric acid biogenerated by an A. thiooxidans biofilm. The recovery of nickel from the leachates was performed at room temperature by precipitating with sulphide generated by Desulfovibrio cells. Indirect precipitation using sulphide generated in Desulfovibrio sp. cultures allowed the recovery of nickel as teh very insoluble nickel sulphide.