Mineral Processing in Bioreactors: Fundamentals and Design Aspects

Bioreactors have proven capabilities to facilitate the biometallurgical extraction of important major and trace metal commodities, even from low-grade mineral ores and mine wastes. Yet, effective mineral processing with bioreactors requires a detailed and quantitative understanding of the underlying biogeochemical and mineralogical processes, the prevailing mass and energy transport limitations, as well as process control and monitoring concepts. In this chapter, we aim to introduce critical aspects of bioreactor design and operation, ranging from the pre-conditioning and properties of bioreactor material feeds, relevant geochemical reactions, kinetics, microorganisms and extraction conditions to process and performance control aspects. We also discuss select industrial applications, case studies and emerging technologies. We conclude that mineral processing with bioreactors is a challenging task that requires the input of concepts from various scientific and engineering fields and will play a critical role in satisfying the growing demand for metals and sustainable resource extraction in future.