Removal of heavy metals from mine tailings by in-situ bioleaching coupled to electrokinetics

This work utilizes a combined biological-electrochemical technique for the in-situ removal of metals from polluted mine tailings. As the main novelty point it is proposed to use electrokinetics (EK) for the in-situ activation of a bioleaching mechanism into the tailings, in order to promote biological dissolution of metal sulphides (Step 1), and for the subsequent removal of leached metals by EK transport out of the tailings (Step 2). Mine tailings were collected from an abandoned Pb/Zn mine located in central-southern Spain. EK-bioleaching experiments were performed under batch mode using a lab scale EK cell. A mixed microbial culture of autochthonous acidophilic bacteria grown from the tailings was used. Direct current with polarity reversal vs alternate current was evaluated in Step 1. In turn, different biological strategies were used: biostimulation, bioaugmentation and the abiotic reference test (EK alone). It was observed that bioleaching activation was very low during Step 1, because it was difficult to maintain acidic pH in the whole soil, but then it worked correctly during Step 2. It was confirmed that microorganisms successfully contributed to the in-situ solubilization of the metal sulphides as final metal removal rates were improved compared to the conventional abiotic EK (best increases of around 40% for Cu, 162% for Pb, 18% for Zn, 13% for Mn, 40% for Ni and 15% for Cr). Alternate current seemed to be the best option. The tailings concentrations of Fe, Al, Cu, Mn, Ni and Pb after treatment comply with regulations, but Pb, Cd and Zn concentrations exceed the maximum values. From the data obtained in this work it has been observed that EK-bioleaching could be feasible, but some upgrades and future work must be done in order to optimize experimental conditions, especially the control of soil pH in acidic values.