Biohydrometallurgy
Sign in to saveBiohydrometallurgy is a technique in the world of metallurgy that utilizes biological agents (bacteria) to recover metals. It is a subset or specialized form of hydrometallurgy, which refers to the use of aqueous solutions for metal extraction through a series of chemical reactions. Bioleaching is closely related to biohydrometallurgy. It focuses on extraction or liberation of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms.
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
15 sectionsContents
- Direct vs indirect leaching
- Applications
- Pyrite
- Copper ores
- Other ores
- Related speculative concepts
- With fungi
- In space
- Environmental impact
- Further reading
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- References
- External links
Biohydrometallurgy is a technique in the world of metallurgy that utilizes biological agents (bacteria) to recover metals. It is a subset or specialized form of hydrometallurgy, which refers to the use of aqueous solutions for metal extraction through a series of chemical reactions. Bioleaching is closely related to biohydrometallurgy. It focuses on extraction or liberation of metals from their ores through the use of living organisms.
Relative to traditional forms of metallurgy, biohydrometallurgy or bioleaching is slow but low cost. These techniques are mainly applied to recovery of copper and gold from low-grade ores. These techniques have been proposed to the extraction of uranium, nickel, and other metals.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Biohydrometallurgy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.