Using microorganisms to recover metals
Biological processes have been used for thousands of years to make cheese, wine, and beer. During the past few hundred years these processes have been employed to process sewage. Increasingly, microbes are being used to clean up a wide variety of toxic chemical wastes that have been dumped into the environment. Scientists are currently examining the possible use of microbes to detoxify naturally occurring toxic selenium-bearing water at the Kesterson Wildlife Refuge. The mining and minerals industries also use biological processes to remove impurities from ores, cut processing costs, and treat some metallic ores that previously were too difficult or too expensive to process by traditional methods. In this article, the term mining industry' applies to the extraction of ore whereas the term minerals industry' applies to processing the ore. Applications of biotechnology in the mining and minerals industries are expected to increase. The paper discusses the use of microbial leaching in the copper, uranium, gold, and manganese mining industries; treatments of mine wastes; the treatment of cyanide solution, and research into bioleaching, biosorption, and genetic engineering.
- OSTI ID:
- 5620325
- Journal Information:
- California Geology (California Division of Mines and Geology); (United States), Vol. 44:7; ISSN 0026-4555
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
WASTE PROCESSING
METALS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
MICROBIAL LEACHING
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
BIOTECHNOLOGY
COPPER ORES
CYANIDES
DETOXIFICATION
GENETIC ENGINEERING
GOLD ORES
IMPURITIES
MANGANESE ORES
MICROORGANISMS
MINERAL INDUSTRY
MINING
ORE PROCESSING
REMOVAL
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SELENIUM
SORPTION
URANIUM ORES
WASTE WATER
WATER TREATMENT
DISSOLUTION
ELEMENTS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
LEACHING
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
ORES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
SEMIMETALS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTES
WATER
550700* - Microbiology
320303 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Industrial & Agricultural Processes- Equipment & Processes
050400 - Nuclear Fuels- Feed Processing
320305 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Industrial & Agricultural Processes- Industrial Waste Management
540320 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)