Bioflotation of sulfides in sea water: Sailing towards up-scaling the process

Halophilic bacteria were tested in microflotation experiments with minerals pyrite and chalcopyrite and in 1 litre batch flotation experiments with mafic complex sulphide mineral from El teniente mine. Results in microflotation experiments show that Halomonas sp. depresses pyrite from 80% floated pyrite to 10% floated pyrite in single mineral microflotation experiments and slightly improves the flotation of chalcopyrite in single mineral microflotation experiments. It is notable to mention that in these experiments, no lime or pH modifier was used to alter the pH of artificial sea water (ASW), leading to milder flotation conditions which could be potentially beneficial in large scale flotation processes. Due to these results, flotation experiments in 1L were performed on a core sample from El Teniente mine with halophilic bacteria as pyrite biodepressant instead of lime. Results from the XRD and MLA from the batch flotation experiments will be displayed in the presentation at the IBS 2019 in Fukuoka, Japan.