Combined biological and chemical oxidation of ferrous sulfate using immobilised Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

Mehdi Nemati, Colin Webb

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Thiobacillus ferooxidans immobilised in biomass support particles with activated carbon coating were used in a packed-bed bioreactor to study the combined effects of chemical and biological catalysis on the oxidation of ferrous iron. The effect of ferrous iron concentration (in the range 5-30 kg m-3) and of its volumetric loading on the kinetics of reaction were investigated. With low concentrations of ferrous iron, 5-10 kg m-3, the combined catalysis did not offer a significant advantage to oxidation of ferrous iron and the kinetics of reaction were slightly faster than those achieved with just the biological catalyst. With ferrous iron at a concentration of 20 kg m-3, the combination of chemical and biological catalysis resulted in a remarkable enhancement of the reaction rate. The maximum oxidation rate of ferrous iron in the presence of combined catalysts, 21.9 kg m-3h-1, was twice as high as that achieved with just the biological catalyst.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)562-570
    Number of pages8
    JournalJournal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology
    Volume74
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 1999

    Keywords

    • Activated carbon
    • Ferrous iron
    • Immobilisation
    • Oxidation
    • Packed-bed bioreactor
    • Thiobacillus ferrooxidans

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