An investigation into the dynamics of ch

A study was undertaken to investigate the dynamics of chalcopyrite bioleaching. The analysis revealed significant dynamics features because the chemical leaching rate of chalcopyrite does not vary monotonically with solution redox potential but undergoes a maximum followed by a minimum as potential increases. The analysis does account for reaction passivation, an effect that has consistently been reported in the literature. The existence and stability of steady states were determined as functions of the solution redox potential, reactor temperature, and biomass concentration. It was found that the rate of bioleaching increased with temperature at lower overall solution potentials with competitive rates observed at high ferric/ferrous ratios. Both high and low overall bioleaching rates were observed with increasing biomass concentration, indicating an upper concentration limit before passivation. These results indicate that the frequently observed inhibiting rates may simply be artifacts of the system dynamics rather than due to physical phenomena.