Reductive bioprocessing of cobalt-bearing limonitic laterites

- Cobalt was extracted by bio-processing limonites under reducing conditions.
- Solubilisation of Co, Mn & Ni was greater in anaerobic than in aerobic bioreactors.
- Co & Mn were strongly correlated (r2 > 0.97).
- The bacteria involved in the process were identified.

Demand for cobalt is increasing worldwide, primarily as a result of its use in rechargeable batteries, super-alloys, and the chemicals industry. Extraction and recovery of cobalt from primary ores and waste materials using (novel) bioprocessing approaches has been suggested to have significant potential as a means to secure the supply of this critical metal in future years. While bioleaching of cobalt-bearing sulfide ores has been carried out in one full-scale operation (at Kasese, Uganda), bioprocessing of cobalt-bearing oxidised ores, such as limonitic laterites, has hitherto received little attention. In the present work, reductive bioleaching of three limonitic laterite ores was carried out in anaerobic bioreactors, maintained at pH 1.8 and 35 °C, and compared with oxidative acid leaching in control aerobic bioreactors. Elemental sulfur was added as electron donor for the acidophilic bacteria used in both aerobic and anaerobic bioreactors. Reductive bioleaching enhanced the extraction of cobalt from all three ores, by a factor of up to 6-fold, compared to acid leaching under aerobic conditions. Extraction of cobalt from the ores closely paralleled that of manganese, suggesting that the most of the cobalt was liberated via the reductive dissolution of manganese (IV) minerals present in the limonites, catalysed directly and/or indirectly by the bacteria present (predominantly Acidithiobacillusferrooxidans and Sulfobacillusthermosulfidooxidans).