Iron Ores Bioprocessing

180 Pages·2022·7.357 MB·English

by  Mingming Zhang

Mingming Zhang
Iron Ores
Bioprocessing
Iron Ores Bioprocessing
Mingming Zhang
Iron Ores Bioprocessing
Mingming Zhang
Schereville, IN, USA
ISBN 978-3-031-10100-7 ISBN 978-3-031-10102-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10102-1
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Preface
Because ideas have to be original only with regard to their adaptation to the problem at
hand, I am always extremely interested in how others have used them… – Thomas Edison
The quote above is not only quite reflective of the purpose of this book but also
very meaningful to the topic of this book because Thomas Edison himself had per-
sonally ventured in iron ore industry, which proved to be his greatest commercial
failure. Discovering that beach sand contained relatively high grade of iron, he
formed the Edison Ore-Milling Company in 1881 based on his patented methods of
ore crushing and extracting the metal using a large electromagnet. He tried for many
years to make that business a success. The demand was not there, and despite the
new technological innovations that Edison brought to the industry, the company
could not compete with the operations in the Midwest iron ore production.
Eventually, the technology was sold to other mine owners. However, Edison was
able to discover a market for the large quantity of waste sand produced from the
ore-milling company and decided to set up his own cement company in 1899. The
cement company later went on to supply the concrete for the construction of the
Yankee Stadium in 1922.
I am not trying to introduce innovative ideas or concepts with guaranteed techni-
cal or economic feasibility. Everything in this book can be found either directly or
extrapolated from other literatures up to date. A mere rearrangement and compiling
of all the information related to the topics is made in this book to give the readers an
opportunity to understand some of the basic concepts and principles of iron ore
bioprocessing, and to encourage readers to adapt and develop their own ideas to
solve their problem at hand.
The information explosion has indeed created a situation where it’s now impos-
sible for any one person to stay up to date with the changes in any topic area (unless
that topic is perhaps so minute in its focus that only a few dozen are following it and
contributing to the existing body of knowledge). The explosion of the shear amount
of literature, and birth of interdisciplines and disciplines or subject areas in the past
decades have been phenomenal. Biohydrometallurgy is one that is born of biotech-
nology and mining engineering. With the maturing of bioprocessing as a discipline,
v
vi Preface
it evolves from an interdisciplinary subject area of microbiology and hydrometal-
lurgy to a discipline that covers the mining engineering and engineering science
aspects of biotechnology, green chemistry, biomass, or renewable resource engi-
neering. As such, books in the area are needed to cover the needs of educating the
new generation of fine bioprocessing engineers, not just by converting well-versed
mining engineers and engineering-savvy biologists to bioprocess engineers. With
this book, I hope to fill this gap and bring the maturity of bioprocess engineering.
Yet, some of the chapters in this book are more oriented toward industrial applica-
tion aspects that are good references for process engineers and researchers who are
looking for new process developments.
The key aspect that makes iron ore bioprocessing special is that iron ore biopro-
cessing as an emerging field has potential to solve particular problems facing iron
ore industry such as economic utilization of low-grade iron ore resources. Potential
solutions stemmed from bioengineering functions and biological and chemical con-
versions concerning the sustainable use of these resources are critical to revitalize
the iron ore mining industry. Thus, the mechanism, rate, dynamic behavior, trans-
formation performance, and manipulations of bioprocessing systems are the main
topics of this book.
Schereville, IN, USA Mingming Zhang
Disclaimer
This book is designed to provide information and resources to readers who are inter-
ested in the subjects discussed. While the author wishes to acknowledge the contri-
butions of all of his peers, colleagues, and professional contemporaries whose
works may have been quoted in this book, at times it is not easy to fulfill this respon-
sibility, and the author is grateful to all those who have made this book possible.
Included in this book are references to technologies and equipment that have been
used or have potential to be used in iron ore bioprocessing; no guarantee is provided
that the information is current, and discussion of any particular piece of technolo-
gies or equipment does not constitute an endorsement.
vii
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Historical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Key Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Iron Ore Processing, General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Iron Ore Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Iron Ore Minerals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.2 Mining Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3 Iron Ore Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1 Iron Ore Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2 Iron Ore Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4 Iron Ore Beneficiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.1 Gravity Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.2 Flotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3 Magnetic Separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
5 A gglomeration of Iron Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1 Sintering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.2 Pelletizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Microorganisms and Bioprocessing, General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2 Classification of Microorganisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3 Microorganisms for Ferrous Metal Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.1 Iron-Oxidizing Microorganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.2 Iron-Reducing Microorganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
ix
x Contents
4 Industrial Microbiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.1 Industrial Microorganisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
4.2 Microbial Nutrition and Growth Kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.3 Industrial Bioprocess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Physicochemical and Biological Processes in Iron Ore Bioprocessing . . . . 89
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2 Principles of Microbial Interaction with Iron Ores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
2.1 Metal Mobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
2.2 Metal Immobilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
2.3 Organic Matter Decomposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
2.4 Common Biological Transformations of Minerals by Microbes . . . . 98
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Engineering Design and Process Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
2 Process Flowsheet Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
2.1 Revamping of Existing Plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3 Equipment Selection, Specifications, and Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3.1 Reactors in Bioleaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
3.2 Gas Mass Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.3 Suspension of Solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
3.4 Future Development and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Economics of Bioprocessing Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
2 Economic Aspects of Iron Ore Bioprocessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
2.1 Capital Cost Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
2.2 Operating Cost Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
2.3 Profitability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Environmental Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
2 Environmental Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3 Environmental Impact Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
3.1 Environmental Impacts of Iron Ore Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3.2 Remediation Processes for Iron Ore Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Contents xi
Laboratory Research and Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
2 Isolation, Culture, and Adaptation of Microorganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
3 Laboratory Shaking Flask Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
4 Pilot Column and Tank Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Pilot-Scale Studies, Scaling-Up, and Technology Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
2 Pilot-Scale Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
2.1 Key Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
2.2 Challenges for Scaling Up Bioprocesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
3 Scale-Up and Technology Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
3.1 Framework for Technology Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Outstanding Questions and Future Developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2 Outstanding Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
2.1 How to Profit from Existing Data and Upcoming
Technologies to Speed Up the Iron Ore Bioprocessing
Development? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
2.2 But Do We Need “New Technologies” for Speeding
Up Iron Ore Bioprocess Development? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
3 Future Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
4 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177