A growth model for the continuous microbiological leaching of a zinc sulfide concentrate by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

The leaching of a zinc sulfide concentrate by Thiobacillus ferrooxidans was investigated in continuous stirred tank reactors. A mathematical model for the growth of T. ferrooxidans on this solid substrate is presented and tested. Experimental leaching studies were done using two reactors in series with and without recycle of solids from the outlet of the first reactor back to its inlet. The proposed model fits the authors' experimental data well. However, comparison of the parameters calculated with those calculated from the data of others showed that a wide variation can exist; thus, the parameters seem to depend on the nature of the substrate. The area occupied on the sulfide surface by a bacterium was found to be 5.4 mum(2). The calculated maximum specific growth rates ranged from 0.20 to 0.31 h(-1), and these values were dependent on whether they were observed in the first or second of the two reactors in series.