《Effect of Lcysteine on bioleaching of NiCu sulphide by Amanzaensis》.pdfVIP

J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2011) 18: 381−385 DOI: 10.1007/s11771−011−0707−5 Effect of L-cysteine on bioleaching of Ni-Cu sulphide by A. manzaensis HE Zhi-guo(贺治国)1, 2, ZHAO Jian-cun(赵健存)1, 2, LIANG Wan-jie(梁万洁)1, 2, HU Yue-hua(胡岳华)1, 2, QIU Guan-zhou(邱冠周)1, 2 1. School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of Ministry of Education, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China © Central South University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 Abstract: The effect of L-cysteine in different concentrations on the bioleaching of Ni-Cu sulfide was studied with an extremely thermophilic archaea, Acidianus manzaensis. It is found that adding certain amounts of L-cysteine to the bioleaching system of Ni-Cu sulfide largely enhances the leaching rate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show the change of bioleached solid residues and the effect of L-cysteine on the surface charges of minerals. Zeta potential and IR spectra of mineral surface show that the interaction between L-cysteine and mineral leads to the formation of metal complex, which is propitious to the bioleaching of Ni-Cu sulfide by Acidianus manzaensis. Key words: Acidianus manzaensis ; L-cysteine; Ni-Cu sulfide; bioleaching; surface charge; Zeta potential Fe3+ as an electron acceptor, and also could grow 1 Introduction heterotrophically using some organic compounds. Fe3+ and O2 served as electron acceptors for growth. However, Attempts to improve the metal recovery include the