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Study on the leaching behavior of antimony in stibnite under the action of different oxidants

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Abstract

In order to investigate the release process of antimony from stibnite under the leaching effect of rain and snow in Hunan Xikuangshan(XKS) mining area, some important environmental factors are selected: dissolved oxygen, Fe(III) and Pseudomonas sp. AO-1 (referred to as AO-1). The one-factor batch sequence experimental method is adopted to study the change law of pH, Sb(III), Sb(V) under different oxidizing conditions. The results show that dissolved oxygen, Fe(III) and AO-1 all can promote the dissolution and release of antimony, in which dissolved oxygen and AO-1 mainly affected the release process of antimony, while Fe(III) mainly affected the oxidation process of antimony. During the process, biomineralization occurs and produces (NH4)Mg(PO4)-6H2O and NaSb(OH)6. The common effect of AO-1 and Fe(III) can obviously promote the dissolution and oxidation of stibnite. The release rate of antimony under different oxidizing agents are as follows: AO-1&Fe(III) > Fe(III) > AO-1 > Dissolved Oxygen.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Scientific research project of Hunan Provincial Education Department [No. 20K052] and the Graduate Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province [QL20220225&CX20231054].

Funding

Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province, QL20220225, Scientific research project of Hunan Provincial Education Department, No. 20K052.

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Contributions

Y.J. performed the experiment and wrote the main manuscript. S.Z. helped perform the analysis with constructive discussions. J.Z. And Z.Z. performed the data analyses. R.D. And J.W. contributed to analysis and manuscript preparation. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Saijun Zhou.

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Jiao, Y., Zhou, S., Zou, J. et al. Study on the leaching behavior of antimony in stibnite under the action of different oxidants. Environ Earth Sci 83, 263 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-024-11569-3

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