Revista Maskana

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Efecto del tiempo de residencia sobre la biooxidación de un mineral aurífero refractario
(Universidad de Cuenca, 2014) Jaramillo M., Katherine I.; Aguirre Ch., Paulina I.; Universidad de Cuenca; Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca; DIUC
Biooxidation is a pretreatment process for extraction of metals (gold) from sulfides ores using native microorganisms. Industrially, the biooxidation process is continuously applied since the volumetric productivity is high and the volume of the reactor can be kept low. In this type of system, the residence time is an indicator of conversion to be achieved; that is why, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of residence time on a continuous biooxidation system in order to get the best solubilization ore. Biooxidation tests were carried out in stirred tank reactors, thus experimenting with 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 days; maintaining the next variables constant: speed of agitation (400rpm), air flow (3vvm), height of the rotor (3.5cm) , temperature (30°C), pH (1.8), particle size (-200 mesh) and pulp density (15% w/v). The process was monitored by measuring the concentration of Fe2+, total Fe, sulfates, plantonic protein, total protein, microbial counting, pH and Eh. The results showed that the best mineral solubilization was obtained with a residence time of 6 days, obtaining Qp Fe3+ of 6.64 g/Lday, Qp SO42- of 6.89 g/L day and gold recovery of 17%.