Abstract:

Waste materials from mineral tailings often contain significant amounts of potentially valuable metals. The efficiency of conventional technologies used to concentrate target minerals is not as good as those currently available. Secondly, these technologies are deteriorating our environment drastically. The recovery of copper from secondary waste resources (e.g. electronic wastes, slag, fly-ash, sludge and spent catalysts) via bioleaching becomes a running trend and a potential alternative for traditional chemical leaching methods. Therefore, a two-stage (aerobic followed by anaerobic condition) mineral leaching process has developed to extract copper from metallurgical slag. The most effective copper (Cu) extraction is achieved 77.5% by bioleaching, the 15% (w/v) slag at 30 °C, using a defined microbial consortium. The elemental sulfur is added to the slag and the pH of leach liquors is allowed to fall between pH 1.0-1.8, at which point anaerobic conditions are imposed. The acidophile Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans has performed well under these conditions. Experimental data also suggested that it would be possible to extract other metals such as Al, Cd, Co, Zn, and Pb from bleached solid residues under the same conditions. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of slag also revealed the ultrastructural changes that occurred due to metal removal. The results suggested that bio-processing of these waste materials would have economic as well as environmental benefits.

Biography of the presenter: Kamalpreet Kaur holds Master degree in Microbial & Food Technology from Punjabi University, India (2008) and a Doctorate (PhD) in Microbiology from the Guru Nanak Dev University, India (2019). After completing her Masters, she worked with private firm, Aisanlak Health Food Ltd., India as Quality Control Chemist for one year and she has four year teaching experience to B.Sc (Biotechnology). She qualified national GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) entrance and ARS-NET (Agricultural Research Service-National Eligibility Test) to excel in her field. She was selected for Merit Scholarship program for foreign students (PBEEE)-3I Quebec-India 2018-19 (www.frqnt.gouv.qc.ca/fr/bourses-et-subventions/resultats-des-concours/resultats-des-concours-anterieurs) and successfully completed her research programme at Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), Quebec, Canada. She is expertise in microbiology, molecular biology (OMICS/meta-OMICS) and diverse biotechnological approaches. In 2020, she starts working with York University, Toronto, Canada as a Postdoctoral Researcher in collaboration with Centre technologique des résidus industriels, (CTRI), Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. She works on gold and copper bioleaching process. She uses biological means for remediation of industrial residues (acid mine drainage, mine tailing and polluted soils) by developing potential strains using metabolic engineering to scale up the technology. She is also experienced in fermentation technology, enzyme production and purification, different strategies of pre-treatments and enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosics for production of biofuels and value-added products. His scientific research work has enabled her to publish several scientific articles in reputed journals and one Indian patent.

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Satinder Kaur Brar