AI Article Synopsis
- Biomining utilizes microorganisms to extract metals from ores by oxidizing iron and sulfide, leading to the conversion of insoluble metals like copper, nickel, and zinc into soluble forms.
- Microbes can indirectly assist in gold recovery by oxidizing ore to make it easier for gold-solubilizing chemicals such as cyanide to access the gold.
- The industry is rapidly expanding, employing different technologies and a variety of microbes that can thrive at various temperatures to extract metals from a growing range of mineral sources.
Article Abstract
Biomining is the use of microorganisms to extract metals from sulfide and/or iron-containing ores and mineral concentrates. The iron and sulfide is microbially oxidized to produce ferric iron and sulfuric acid, and these chemicals convert the insoluble sulfides of metals such as copper, nickel and zinc to soluble metal sulfates that can be readily recovered from solution. Although gold is inert to microbial action, microbes can be used to recover gold from certain types of minerals because as they oxidize the ore, they open its structure, thereby allowing gold-solubilizing chemicals such as cyanide to penetrate the mineral. Here, we review a strongly growing microbially-based metal extraction industry, which uses either rapid stirred-tank or slower irrigation technology to recover metals from an increasing range of minerals using a diversity of microbes that grow at a variety of temperatures.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0167-7799(02)00004-5 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Mycosynthesis of Metal-Containing Nanoparticles-Fungal Metal Resistance and Mechanisms of Synthesis.
Int J Mol Sci
November 2022
Department of Soil Science and Geology, Institute of Agronomic Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia.
In the 21st century, nanomaterials play an increasingly important role in our lives with applications in many sectors, including agriculture, biomedicine, and biosensors. Over the last two decades, extensive research has been conducted to find ways to synthesise nanoparticles (NPs) via mediation with fungi or fungal extracts. Mycosynthesis can potentially be an energy-efficient, highly adjustable, environmentally benign alternative to conventional physico-chemical procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulating the Coordination Environment of Mesopore-Confined Single Atoms from Metalloprotein-MOFs for Highly Efficient Biocatalysis.
Adv Mater
November 2022
School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia.
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) exhibit unparalleled atomic utilization and catalytic efficiency, yet it is challenging to modulate SACs with highly dispersed single-atoms, mesopores, and well-regulated coordination environment simultaneously and ultimately maximize their catalytic efficiency. Here, a generalized strategy to construct highly active ferric-centered SACs (Fe-SACs) is developed successfully via a biomineralization strategy that enables the homogeneous encapsulation of metalloproteins within metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) followed by pyrolysis. The results demonstrate that the constructed metalloprotein-MOF-templated Fe-SACs achieve up to 23-fold and 47-fold higher activity compared to those using metal ions as the single-atom source and those with large mesopores induced by Zn evaporation, respectively, as well as up to a 25-fold and 1900-fold higher catalytic efficiency compared to natural enzymes and natural-enzyme-immobilized MOFs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotransformation of manganese oxides by fungi: solubilization and production of manganese oxalate biominerals.
Environ Microbiol
July 2012
Division of Molecular Microbiology, College of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK.
The ability of the soil fungi Aspergillus niger and Serpula himantioides to tolerate and solubilize manganese oxides, including a fungal-produced manganese oxide and birnessite, was investigated. Aspergillus niger and S. himantioides were capable of solubilizing all the insoluble oxides when incorporated into solid medium: MnO(2) and Mn(2) O(3) , mycogenic manganese oxide (MnO(x) ) and birnessite [(Na(0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiomineralization of metal-containing ores and concentrates.
Trends Biotechnol
January 2003
Department of Microbiology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, 7602, Matieland, South Africa.
Article Synopsis
- Biomining utilizes microorganisms to extract metals from ores by oxidizing iron and sulfide, leading to the conversion of insoluble metals like copper, nickel, and zinc into soluble forms.
- Microbes can indirectly assist in gold recovery by oxidizing ore to make it easier for gold-solubilizing chemicals such as cyanide to access the gold.
- The industry is rapidly expanding, employing different technologies and a variety of microbes that can thrive at various temperatures to extract metals from a growing range of mineral sources.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!