Monday, March 9, 2015

The Role of Microorganisms in Dividing Metals




Microorganisms play great role in producing food, such as milk products, beer, wine, bread etc. Other than this, they are used for getting completely new types of products.

With the advancement of biotechnology microorganisms are starting to be used for dividing some metals from materials that contain iron and sulfur. This has been enabled by the discovery of a type of bacteria called chemoautotrophic bacteria.

They use iron sulfate for food in a specific way. They divide the sulfate from the iron, thus releasing sulfuric acid which bonds with not easily soluble materials (copper, zink, nickel) and creates soluble compounds.


The main microorganism that is used for dividing metals is Thiobacilus ferroxidans which oxygenates the iron sulfate, thus releasing sulfuric acid that ravages the ore. The bad side of this process is the creating of many toxic substances which are contained in the ore, including gold, mercury, arsen and sulfuric acid. 

This method is less present because of the pollution and it is in a developing stage. Researchers are working on finding better methods for cleaning the toxic wastewater.


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