Influence of organic acids on pentlandite bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans LR

Bioleaching is a bio-hydrometallurgical process of solubilizing metals from low-grade sulfide ores by microbial action employing chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms capable of promoting redox reactions. Organic acids have been applied in bioleaching once can act in two different ways; providing hydrogen ions for mineral acidolysis and complexing metals due to their chelating capacity. This study investigates the synergy of different organic acids (acetic, ascorbic, citric, lactic, and oxalic) and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans LR pentlandite bioleaching. The addition of oxalic acid had a positive effect on the Ni extraction during pentlandite biological-chemical leaching after 15 days, and the yields observed were 45.6% (26.5 mg Ni/g ore). The yields for Co extraction were meager, and Co extraction values were found to only 2.8% (1.6 mg Co/g ore) in the presence of citric acid. A design of experiments with mixtures was used to evaluate the interaction of organic acids in bioleaching. According to simplex-centroid experiments, only citric acid presented a statistically significant effect and has contributed in a synergistic form in pentlandite biological-chemical leaching in the presence of A. ferrooxidans. This study provides a new synergistic bioleaching system to improve Ni and Co extraction from sulfide ores.