Biomining

Bio-mining and Bio-leaching

Microorganisms are used in the mining industry for their natural ability to digest, absorb, and change the quality of different chemicals and metals. Wikipedia: Biomining and Bioleaching. A perfect example is copper mining, nearly 25% of which is today performed with the organism Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans that leaches copper from mine tailings.

Biohydrometallurgy

is an interdisciplinary field involving processes that: 1) are driven by microbes - bio. 2) mainly take place in aqueous environment - hydro and 3) deals with metal production and treatment of metal containing materials and solutions. More here: [1]

Applications and Product Ecology

• Aluminum: As was previously demonstrated, aluminum can be extracted from clays. While only very preliminarily explored, aluminum-bio-extraction may become a possibility in the future, as demonstrated here
• Phosphorus: duckweed for phosphate biomining - Use of duckweed for phosphate reclamation from wastewater. Duckweeds are highly efficient at extracting phosphates from wastewater, down to trace concentrations. Excavated subsoil could be dissolved in water, and duckweeds would extract the phosphates from the muddy water. The processed sediment can later still be used to make CEBs, for pottery or for aluminum extraction.
• Nitrogen: fixation from air - cyanobacteria used in Asia, grown in shallow ponds which then dry out, leaving green sludge, a high-nitrogen natural fertilizer (... this is not mining though !)

Links

• Wikipedia entries for Biomining, Bioleaching and Biohydrometallurgy
• BioMineWiki- a wiki on biohydrometallurgy
• Biomining - A Useful Approach Toward Metal Extraction