Comparison of Bioleaching High Arsenic-Bearing Copper Sulphide Concentrate Using Thiobacillus Ferrooxidans and Sulfobacillus Thermosulfidooxidans

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The usage of high-arsenic sulfide copper concentrate were limited because the arsenic in the concentrate harms the qualities of copper product and pollutes the environment. In this paper an innovative process for high-arsenic copper sulfide concentrate with with bio-oxidation respectively Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and moderate thermophile Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans has been studied out, and the influencing factors have been comparative studied during the leaching process, such as concentration particle size, leaching methods, pulp concentration, leaching time and the initial concentration of Fe3+, etc. Under the suitable leaching conditions, the experiments results show that the concentrate is leached 47.13% of Cu,50.09% of As and 52.46% of Fe by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and 82.39% of Cu,78.21% of As and 40.38% of Fe by moderate thermophile Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans. The high concentration initial Fe3+ has speeded leaching process up in the presence of moderate thermophile Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans, and when the pulp initial concentration of Fe3+ is in the range of 0.08~0.32mol/L, the leaching rate of Cu is 86.34~97.06%, As 89.22~94.13%. It is concluded that Sulfobacillus thermosulfidooxidans have a better effect on bioleaching high-arsenic sulfide copper concentrate than Thiobacillus ferrooxidans.