Mechanisms of metal sulfide bioleaching

Abstract

Among the hydrometallurgical techniques for the treatment of sulfide mineral concentrates, bioleaching is one with a high application potential on the base of its advances widely recognized. In spite of it, its development at industrial level has been slow due to its main drawback: its low kinetics. The start-up of bioleaching processes needs necessarily a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved in the dissolution of mineral sulfides, in order to control and improve industrial scale-up. This bibliographic review collects the present state on the subject through the fundamentals of bioleaching models which integrate both the chemical-electrochemical behavior and the role played by microorganisms on the interface solution-mineral. At the same time other important aspects included in this paper are: the latest findings on chemical and electrochemical parameters of the process, the importance of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) excreted by leach bacteria during its adherence to mineral particles, and the function played by the ferric iron trapped within this layer of EPS.