I'm carrying out bioleaching of chalcopyrite using microorganisms. What formula should I apply to calculate the leaching efficiency?
Dear Swaroop,
You must carry out a copper mass balance either in solution and/or solid:
In solution : % Copper recovery = (Cu solution [mg/L] x V solution [L])/(Mass ore [mg] x Cu grade in ore).
In solid: %Copper extraction = (Mass tail [g] x Cu grade in tail)/(Mass ore [g] x Cu grade in ore).
Ideally both copper recovery and copper extraction should be very close, unless you've significant copper impregnation.
Regards,
Roberto
Dear Swaroop,
Pulp density and dilution factors are the two main factors have to be considered...
ICP/AAS analysis will provide the Cu concentration in wt/vol (e.g. mg/L), first it has to be convenrted to wt/wt (e.g. mg/g).. For instance, if xx mg/L is your ICP result, then
Cu leached = (xx mg/L X dilution factor X volume of the leachant (or culture)) / grams of chalcopyrite
So, the result gives Cu leached per gram of sample (mg/g is the unit)..
And then the Cu recovery can be calculated as given below,
Cu recovery = (Cu leached per gram of chalcopyrite / Total Cu present per gram of Chalcopyrite) X 100.
Regards,
Manivannan
Hello,
It is important to know what type of reactor you are using: column, CSTR, or batch. The calculations may differ. In the case of a CSTR system, it is also necessary to look at the accumulation in the system to do a proper mass balance.
So, what reactor are you using?
Best,
Danilo
Danilo Borja @ I understand and consider Reactor types, parameters etc. affecting the bio-transformation ability of an microbe but taking all these things into account there should be a basic formula which gives an output in numerical form.
Kindly revert for any discussion or clarification of my post.
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