Microbial recovery of metals from spent catalysts

Technical Report · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6012257· OSTI ID:6012257

Sperl, P L; Sperl, G T

The second quarter of 1990 was one of peripheral progress on the project of reclaiming molybdenum and nickel from spent coal liquefaction catalysts. We defined some important parameters for future research and we were able to clear up ambiguities in some of the past approaches and the problems uniquely associated with the ability of T. ferrooxidans to leach both Ni{sup ++} and molybdate from spent, alumina supported catalyst from the Wilsonville pilot project. We were also able to show the T. ferrooxidans was very sensitive to molybdate and extremely sensitive to tungstate, but showed relatively little sensitivity for the related elements chromate, vanadate and for the catalyst associated metal, Ni{sup ++}. There appears to be no negative synergistic effects between Ni{sup ++} and molybdate for growth, which bodies well for processes to reclaim both these metals from spent coal liquefaction catalysts. We have shown that T. ferrooxidans is indeed capable of leaching molybdate and Ni{sup ++} from spent catalysts if the catalyst is washed extensively with both an organic solvent such as tetrahydrofuran to remove the oily contaminants and an aqueous acidic medium to remove readily solubilized N{sup ++} and molybdate. It is possible to extract into an acidic medium enough molybdate from THF washed spent catalyst within 24 hr to completely inhibit the growth of all tested T. ferrooxidans strains. The stage is now set for the development of a molybdate tolerant strain to be used for actual leaching of the spent catalyst. We are currently seeking simpler ways of pretreating the raw spent catalyst in order to make it more amenable to microbial leaching and possibly produce an economic and feasible technology.

• Research Organization: Geo-Microbial Technologies, Inc., Ochelata, OK (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC22-89PC89881
• OSTI ID: 6012257
• Report Number(s): DOE/PC/89881-T1; ON: DE92007976
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
COAL LIQUEFACTION
CATALYSTS
MOLYBDENUM
RECOVERY
NICKEL
LEACHING
PROGRESS REPORT
THIOBACILLUS FERROXIDANS
BACILLUS
BACTERIA
DISSOLUTION
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELEMENTS
LIQUEFACTION
METALS
MICROORGANISMS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SULFUR-OXIDIZING BACTERIA
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
010405* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Hydrogenation & Liquefaction
550700 - Microbiology