Bioleaching of heavy metal from sewage sludge by Thiobacillus thiooxidan JJU-1
- Received Date: 07/03/2017
- Accepted Date: 02/10/2016
- Available Online: 26/08/2017
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Key words:
- bioleaching /
- Thiobacillus thiooxidan /
- heavy metal /
- sewage sludge
Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans on bioleaching of Cd, Cr, Cu and Pb-rich sludge, Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans JJU-1 was inoculated to sludge from a sewage disposal plant through flasks experiments for 7 days. The pH value, ORP (oxidation reduction potential) and the respective removal rates of bioleaching of the sludge were tested. The results showed that the descending range differed in different amounts of inoculums of JJU-1.The pH value decreased by the highest descending range and the ORP reached the maximum of 444 mV with the sludge-inoculation ratio of 15%. As high as 79.2% of Cu, 96.6% of Cd and 93.4% of Pb could be leached for 15% of sludge-inoculation ratio. In addition, the energy source of sulfur significantly reduced the pH value of sludge. The pH value declined to less than 1 with 12 g·L-1 of sulfur after 7 days of bioleaching. The ORP exhibited the maximum of 477 mV with 16 g·L-1 of sulfur. The maximum removal rate of Cr, Cu and Pb were 98.8%, 74.3% and 85.8% with 20 g·L-1 of sulfur, respectively. However, the addition of sulfur did not affect the leaching rate of Cd. These results demonstrated the potential of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans JJU-1 for the bioextraction of valuable metals from sludge.