Kinetics of Iron Bioleaching using Isolated Leptospirillum Ferriphilum: Effect of Temperature
S.Venkatesa Prabhu1, G.Ramesh2, Amare T. Adugna3, Surafel M. Beyan4, Gizachew Assefa. K5

1Venkatea Prabhu. S*, Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
2Ramesh. G, Mechanical Engineering, JCT College of Engineering, Coimbatore, India.
3Amare T. Adugna, Environmental Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
4Surafel M. Beyan, Chemical Engineering, Jimma Institute of Technology, Jimma, Ethiopia.
5Gizachew Assefa. K, Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

Manuscript received on September 16, 2019. | Revised Manuscript received on 24 September, 2019. | Manuscript published on October 10, 2019. | PP: 76-81 | Volume-8 Issue-12, October 2019. | Retrieval Number: L32101081219/2019©BEIESP | DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.L3210.1081219
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© The Authors. Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Abstract: This study was designed to investigate the effect of temperature on iron bioleaching kinetics using Leptospirillum ferriphilum. The bacteria were isolated and subjected to molecular characterization technique for confirming L. ferriphilum. Using the isolate, bioleaching data were collected in the temperature range of 298–318 K at an initial pH of 1.5 and 5% pulp density with an average particle size being 300 µm. The results of experiments concluded that leaching efficiency increases with temperature and maximum of 93.85% were observed after 20 days at 313 K. The bioleaching kinetics indicated that the maximum rate (rate constant: 0.1452 d1 ) was found in the experiment conducted at the optimum temperature, and the rate-controlling step was “diffusion through ash layer.” The activation energy was calculated to be 37.59 kJ/mol. From the thermodynamic study of the bioleaching system, ∆H˚ and ∆S˚ were found to be 0.7399 × 10−3 and 28.512 J/mol, respectively.
Keywords: Activation Energy, Bioleaching, Leptospirillum Ferriphilum, Rate Kinetics, Shrinking Core Model, Thermodynamics.
Scope of the Article: Bio-Science and Bio-Technology