Selection of Leptospirillum ferrooxidans SRPCBL and development for enhanced ferric regeneration in stirred tank and airlift column reactor

Presence of Leptospirillum ferrooxidans plays significant role in ferric sulphate generation during bioleaching process. Thus, an attempt was made to select L. ferrooxidans from the polymetallic concentrate leachate and further developed it for enhanced ferric iron regeneration from the leachate in shake flask, stirred tank and column reactor. When ferric to ferrous iron ratio in the shake flask reached to 20:1, L. ferrooxidans out competed Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and accounted for more than 99% of the total population. The isolate was confirmed by 16S rRNA genes sequence analysis and named as L. ferrooxidans SRPCBL. When the culture was exposure to UV dose and the oxidation–reduction potential of the inoculation medium was adjusted to 400 mV by ferrous:ferric iron ratio, the IOR reached to as high as 1.2 g/L/h in shake flask, even with initial ferrous iron concentration of 200 g/L. The chalcopyrite concentrate leachate containing 12.8, 15.7, and 42.0 g/L ferrous iron, ferric iron and copper, respectively was studied for ferric iron regeneration with the developed polymetallic resistant L. ferrooxidans SRPCBL in stirred tank and a developed biofilm airlift column, the highest IOR achieved were 2.20 g/L/h and 3.1 g/L/h, respectively, with ferrous oxidation efficiency of 98%. The ferric regeneration ability of the developed isolate from the leachate proves useful for a two-stage metal extraction process.