RT journal article
T1 Bioleaching of the α-alumina layer of spent three-way catalysts as a pretreatment for the recovery of platinum group metals
A1 Compagnone, María Cristina
A1 González Cortés, José Joaquín
A1 Yeste Siguenza, María del Pilar
A1 Cantero Moreno, Domingo
A1 Ramírez Muñoz, Martín
A2 Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica
A2 Ingeniería Química y Tecnología de Alimentos
K1 A. thiooxidans
K1 Biogenic acid
K1 Bioleaching
K1 Platinum group metals
K1 Three-way catalyst
AB Acid bioleaching of Al by Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans has been explored as an environmentally friendly pretreatment to facilitate the extraction of platinum group metals from spent three-way catalysts (TWC). Biogenic sulfur obtained from desulfurization bioreactors improved the production of acid by A. thiooxidans compared to commercially available elemental sulfur. The lixiviation abilities of bacteria-free biogenic acid and biogenic acid with exponential or stationary phase bacteria were compared against a control batch produced by commercial H2SO4. The maximum Al leaching percentage (54.5%) was achieved using biogenic acids with stationary-phase bacteria at a TWC pulp density of 5% w/v whereas bacteria-free biogenic acid (23.4%), biogenic acid with exponential phase bacteria (21.7%) and commercial H2SO4 (24.7%) showed lower leaching abilities. The effect of different pulp densities of ground TWC (5, 30, and 60% w/v) on Al leaching and bacterial growth was determined. While greater Al leaching yields were obtained at lower TWC pulp density solutions (54.5% at 5% w/v and 2.5% at 60% w/v), higher pulp densities enhanced microbial growth (2.3 × 109 cells/mL at 5% w/v and 9.5 × 1010 cells/mL at 60% w/v). The dissolution of the metal from the solid into the liquid phase triggered the production of biological polymeric substances that were able to absorb traces of both Al (up to 24.80% at 5% w/v) and Pt (up to 0.40% at 60% w/v).
PB Elsevier
SN 0301-4797
YR 2023
FD 2023-08-25
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30253
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/30253
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 07-nov-2026