title: Improved chalcopyrite bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus sp. via direct step-wise regulation of microbial community structure.
abstract: A direct step-wise regulation strategy of microbial community structure was developed for improving chalcopyrite bioleaching by Acidithiobacillus sp. Specially, the initial microbial proportion between Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans was controlled at 3:1 with additional 2 g/L Fe(2+) for faster initiating iron metabolism. A. thiooxidans biomass was fed via a step-wise strategy (8-12th d) with the microbial proportion 1:1 for balancing community structure and promoting sulfur metabolism in the stationary phase. A. thiooxidans proportion was further improved via another step-wise feeding strategy (14-18th d) with the microbial proportion 1:2 for enhancing sulfur metabolism and weakening jarosite passivation in the later phase. With the community structure-shift control strategy, biochemical reaction was directly regulated for creating a better balance in different phases. Moreover, the final copper ion was increased from 57.1 to 93.2 mg/L, with the productivity 2.33 mg/(Ld). The novel strategy may be valuable in optimization of similar bioleaching process.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi 214122, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shoushuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi 214122, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hailin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Road, Wuxi 214122, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: bioprocessor@aliyun.com.
authors.forename: Wu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D042763:Acidithiobacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D018533:Biomass; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D005290:Ferric Compounds / Q000378:metabolism; D013431:Sulfates / Q000378:metabolism; D013455:Sulfur / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005290:Ferric Compounds; D013431:Sulfates; C492331:jarosite; C012819:chalcopyrite; D013455:Sulfur; D003300:Copper
keywords: Acidithiobacillus; Chalcopyrite bioleaching; Iron/sulfur metabolism; Microbial community regulation