Rawlings Douglas E, Dew David, du Plessis Chris
Department of Microbiology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, 7602, Matieland, South Africa.
Trends Biotechnol. 2003 Jan;21(1):38-44. doi: 10.1016/s0167-7799(02)00004-5.
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.
生物采矿是指利用微生物从硫化物和/或含铁矿石及矿物精矿中提取金属。铁和硫化物被微生物氧化生成铁离子和硫酸，这些化学物质将铜、镍和锌等金属的不溶性硫化物转化为可溶性金属硫酸盐，可轻易从溶液中回收。虽然金对微生物作用呈惰性，但微生物可用于从某些类型的矿物中回收金，因为在它们氧化矿石时，会打开其结构，从而使氰化物等可溶解金的化学物质渗透到矿物中。在此，我们综述了一个蓬勃发展的基于微生物的金属提取行业，该行业使用快速搅拌槽或较慢的灌溉技术，利用多种在不同温度下生长的微生物，从越来越多的矿物中回收金属。
