Devasia, P and Natarajan, KA and Rao, GR (1996) Role of bacterial growth conditions and adhesion in the bioleaching of chalcopyrite by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. In: Minerals and Metallurgical Processing, 13 (2). 82-86 .Full text not available from this repository.
The role of growth conditions and adhesion of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans on the leaching of chalcopyrite was investigated. Thiobacillus ferrooxidans grown on sulfur, thiosulfate and ferrous ion substrates was used in this comparative study. Growth on sulfur, a solid substrate, requires bacterial adhesion unlike that required in the presence of soluble thiosulfate and ferrous ion in a mineral-salts medium. Solid substrate-grown cells showed higher rates of leaching than those grown in liquid media. An initial lag period noticed during leaching by solution-grown cells was absent when solid substrate-grown cells were used. Such a behavior is attributed to the presence of an inducible proteinaceous cell-surface appendage on the sulfur-grown cells. This appendage aids in bacterial adhesion onto the mineral surfaces. Such an appendage is absent in solution-grown cells, as substantiated by electrophoretic measurements. The importance of bacterial adhesion and the direct mechanism in leaching by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans are demonstrated.
|Item Type:||Journal Article|
|Additional Information:||Copyright of this article belongs to Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration.|
|Department/Centre:||Division of Biological Sciences > Microbiology & Cell Biology
Division of Mechanical Sciences > Materials Engineering (formerly Metallurgy)
|Date Deposited:||19 May 2011 06:44|
|Last Modified:||19 May 2011 06:44|
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