Abstract:
This study investigated the biological removal of heavy metals from mine tailings
in Kazakhstan using acidophilic microorganism strains Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans 535 and
Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans 377. The experiments were conducted in shake flasks at pH 1.6,
various temperatures (28 ◦C, 18 ◦C, and 8 ◦C), and 10% solid concentration (w/v). The results
of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses showed
that arsenic was particularly efficiently removed at 28 ◦C. At this temperature, A. ferrooxidans 377 was
more efficient at removal than the other strain. Meanwhile, A. ferrivorans 535 was more efficient than
A. ferrooxidans 377 at 8 ◦C. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this study is that arsenic
can be removed at a low temperature and high solid concentration. The results of this study support
the idea that microorganisms can be used for removing arsenic via a combination of biooxidation and
chemical methods.
