Bio-sourced reagents for the flotation of minerals in the mining industry

矿业公司被迫开采更复杂、品位更低的矿体，同时还要遵守越来越具有挑战性的环境法规。其中许多公司使用泡沫浮选来浓缩矿石。在这个过程中，通常会添加有毒的化学物质来改变矿物的表面特性（主要是疏水性）。随着越来越多的监管限制（例如，安大略省考虑禁止黄原酸盐），该行业可能面临一个死胡同，因为没有足够高效、低成本或环保的替代试剂。**先前已经证明肽可以选择性地结合矿物表面。因此，该项目旨在开发替代浮选生物试剂，其基础是i)大规模筛选多肽库；Ii)多肽数学建模和硅优化，将疏水/亲水函数整合到(i)中确定的选择性序列中，以促进矿物浮选；Iii)构建生物试剂最有效表达和产量最大化的表达体系；Iv)建模和优化生物过程，以最大生产率生产（i/ii）中选择/设计的最佳生物试剂。**这些分子将被开发用于金、银、铜、锌和镍硫化物浮选的特定过程。将特别强调生物试剂生产成本的分析和最小化，以使其成为目前使用的有毒试剂的有竞争力的替代品。这些新的生物试剂在矿山废水中相对容易处理，因此将大大减少矿物浮选过程对环境的影响。**在本项目结束时，具有更高效率、更小环境足迹和具有竞争力成本的新型生物收集器将由采矿业用于工业和商业开发。**********

Mining companies are forced to exploit ore bodies that are more complex and of lower grade, while complying with increasingly challenging environmental regulations. Many of those companies use froth flotation to concentrate mineral ores. In this process, often toxic chemicals are added to specifically alter mineral surface properties (mainly hydrophobicity). With increasing regulatory restrictions (for instance, Ontario contemplates the ban of xanthates), the industry could face a dead end with no alternative reagents that are sufficiently efficient, low cost or environment friendly.**It has been previously shown that peptides could selectively bind mineral surfaces. This project therefore aims at the development of alternative flotation bio-reagents, based on i) large-scale screening of peptides libraries; ii) peptide mathematical modeling and in-silico optimization integrating hydrophobic/hydrophilic functions into selective sequences identified in (i), in order to favor mineral flotation; iii) constructing an expression system that will present the bio-reagents in the most effective way as well as maximize yield; iv) modeling and optimizing a bioprocess to produce the best bio-reagents selected/designed in (i/ii) at its maximum productivity. **These molecules will be developed for the specific processes of gold, silver, copper, zinc and nickel sulfides flotation. Special emphasis will be put on the analysis and minimization of bio-reagent production costs in order for it to be a competitive alternative to the presently used, toxic reagents. These new bio-reagents will be relatively easy to treat in mine effluents and will therefore greatly reduce environmental impact of mineral flotation processes.**At the end of this project, new bio-collectors with improved efficiency, smaller environment footprint and competitive costs will be available for industrial and commercial development by the mining industry.**********