Use of enzymes isolated from Bacteria in Biomining

生物采矿是利用细菌等微生物获取贵金属的过程。生物采矿被用来浸出不溶性金属，如硫化铜，使它们可溶，从而促进其他目标贵金属的提取(Johnson，2014)。关于嗜酸性趋化细菌、古生菌和某些酵母菌加速氧化溶解和从矿石中分离矿物/金属的能力，已经有了大量的研究。这种生物作用过程被称为生物浸出。细菌浸出可用于难浸金矿的氧化前处理，以减轻金矿开采的难度。此外，生物采矿可用于从电子废物中回收金属，并从废流中回收特定的金属，并处理有助于软化和脱矿的水。在这一过程中可以回收的其他贱金属是钴、镍和锌(Johnson，2014)。由于生物浸出是一个可能需要很多天的过程，我们的计划是不使用细菌进行生物浸出，相反，我们计划通过使用全细胞提取物或酶来加速这一过程，以进一步稳定技术，直接用于工业过程。如果这项研究成功，可能会使在加拿大矿山及其周围工作的人受益，他们可能会暴露在如此严酷的化学过程中或暴露在污染物中。产品开发和制造将通过在国内和国际销售以及创造新的就业机会，为加拿大经济做出贡献。合作的长期目标允许继续该项目，并在瑞尔森大学对HQP进行进一步培训，并有可能在毕业后受雇于BioSA Technologies。

Biomining is the process that uses microorganism such as bacteria to obtain precious metals. Biomining is used to leach insoluble metals, such as copper sulfides, by making them soluble facilitating the extraction of other targeted precious metals (Johnson, 2014). There has been much research as to abilities of acidophilic chemolithotrophic bacteria, archaea and certain yeasts to accelerate the oxidative dissolution and separate minerals/metals from ore. This biomining process is termed bioleaching. Bioleaching can be used for refractory gold ores as an oxidative pretreatment to ease gold mining. In addition, biomining can be used for metal recovery from electronic wastes and to reclaim specific metals from waste streams and process water helping with softening and demineralization. Other base metals can be that can be recovered in this process are cobalt, nickel and zinc (Johnson, 2014). Since bioleaching is a process that can take many days to occur, our plan is not to use bacteria in bioleaching, instead we are planning to accelerate this process by using whole cell extracts or enzymes for further stabilization technique to be used in industrial processes directly. This research could if successful benefit people working in and around Canadian mines who have the potential to be exposed to such harsh chemical processes or be exposed to pollutants. The product development and manufacturing will contribute to the Canadian economy through national and international sales and the creation of new jobs. The long-term objective of the collaboration allows the continuation of the project and further training of HQP at Ryerson University with the possibility to be hired by BIOSA Technologies following graduation.