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Getting rid of the unwanted: highlights of developments and challenges of biobeneficiation of iron ore minerals—a review

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Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

The quest for quality mineral resources has led to the development of many technologies that can be used to refine minerals. Biohydrometallurgy is becoming an increasingly acceptable technology worldwide because it is cheap and environmentally friendly. This technology has been successfully developed for some sulphidic minerals such as gold and copper. In spite of wide acceptability of this technology, there are limitations to its applications especially in the treatment of non-sulphidic minerals such as iron ore minerals. High levels of elements such as potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) in iron ore minerals are known to reduce the quality and price of these minerals. Hydrometallurgical methods that are non-biological involving the use of chemicals are usually used to deal with this problem. However, recent advances in mining technologies favour green technologies, known as biohydrometallurgy, with minimal impact on the environment. This technology can be divided into two, namely bioleaching and biobeneficiation. This review focuses on Biobeneficiation of iron ore minerals. Biobeneficiation of iron ore is very challenging due to the low price and chemical constitution of the ore. There are substantial interests in the exploration of this technology for improving the quality of iron ore minerals. In this review, current developments in the biobeneficiation of iron ore minerals are considered, and potential solutions to challenges faced in the wider adoption of this technology are proposed.

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Abbreviations

Ln− :

Any organic ligand with oxidation number n, such as oxalate (Ln− = C2O4 2− or HC2O4 −), citrate (Ln−C6H5O7 3− or C6H6O7 2− or C6H7O7 −),

>:

Particle surface

>Fe′′′:

Trivalent lattice iron on the particle surface

>F′′:

Bivalent lattice iron on the particle surface

[>Fe–L]:

Surface complex

…:

Adsorbed species on the particle surface

II, III:

Oxidation number of surface lattice iron

N+, n − :

Valence of aqueous species

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ARC-Institute for Soil, Climate and Water, Agricultural Research Council, 600, Belvedere Street, Arcadia, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

    Rasheed A. Adeleke

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Subject Group: Microbiology, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Rasheed A. Adeleke

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Adeleke, R.A. Getting rid of the unwanted: highlights of developments and challenges of biobeneficiation of iron ore minerals—a review. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 41, 1731–1741 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1514-4

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