Study effects of conventional flotation reagents on bioleaching of zinc sulfide

Although flotation and bio-extraction of metals from its products are extensively investigated, few studies have evaluated the effects of reagents on the bioleaching process. Both the structure and concentration of flotation reagents significantly affect microorganism activities. This study utilized Kendall’s tau (t) as a statistical method to assess the impact of typical sulfide flotation surfactants (collectors: potassium amyl-xanthate, potassium isobutyl-xanthate, sodium ethyl-xanthate, potassium isopropyl-xanthate, and Dithiophosphate; frothers: pine oil and methyl isobutyl carbinol) on the bioleaching of zinc sulfides in a mixed culture comprising Leptospirillum ferrooxidans, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, and Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans. The molarity of these reagents was analyzed for statistical evaluations. The findings indicated that an increase in the molarity of reagents led to a rise in the pH value (t: 0.56), while the ORP value (t: /C0 0.54), Fe3þ/Fe2þ ratio (t: /C0 0.51), and numbers of oxidizing bacteria (t: /C0 0.38) in the solution were reduced. Consequently, with the increase in reagent molarity, zinc recovery was diminished (t: /C0 0.45). These results provide insights for selecting flotation reagents when bioleaching is the method for metallurgical metal extraction.