Biological attack of pyrite is a potential method of reducing pyritic sulphur in coal. Integration of such attacks with microwave pretreatment can enhance the efficiency of the process. Alternatively, processes such as oil-agglomeration can be coupled with the biological attack to obtain higher rates of pyritic sulphur removal. In this study desulphurization of Indian (Assam) coal was carried o...

Identification and functional analysis of key members of bacterial communities in marine and estuarine environments are major challenges for obtaining a mechanistic understanding of biogeochemical processes. In the Baltic Sea basins, as in many other marine environments with anoxic bodies of water, the oxic-anoxic interface is considered a layer of high bacterial turnover of sulfur, nitrogen, a...

The sulfur-binding protein of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans ATCC 23270 was investigated. The protein composition of the bacterium's cell surface changed according to the culture substrate. Sulfur-grown cells showed greater adhesion to sulfur than iron-grown cells. The sulfur-grown cells synthesized a 40-kDa surface protein which was not synthesized by iron-grown cells. The 40-kDa protein had thiol ...

Bacterial adhesion to mineral surfaces plays an important role not only in bacterial survival in natural ecosystems, but also in mining industry applications. Selective adhesion was investigated with Thiobacillus ferrooxidans by using four minerals, pyrite, quartz, chalcopyrite, and galena. Escherichia coli was used as a control bacterium. Contact angles were used as indicators of hydrophobicit...

As part of a study on the assimilation of organic compounds by autotrophic microorganisms, enrichment cultures were set up for thiobacilli. A facultatively autotrophic Thiobacillus was isolated in pure culture and grew heterotrophically on many organic compounds including p-hydroxybenzoate (PHBz). Since degradation of aromatic compounds is carried out by a limited range of bacterial genera, the...

Properties ofa heat-labile glucose transport system in Thiobacillusferrooxidans strain AP-44 were investigated with iron-grown cells. [14C]glucose was incorporated into ceil fractions, and the cells metabolized [14C]glucose to 14CO2. Amytal, rotenone, cyanide, azide, 2,4-dinitrophenol, and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide strongly inhibited [14C]glucose uptake activity, suggesting the presence of an en...

The concentrations of ferrous and ferric ions change dramatically during the course of the batch experiments usually performed to study the kinetics of the bacterial oxidation of ferrous ions and sulfide minerals. This change in concentration of the iron species during the course of the experiment often makes it difficult to interpret the results of these experiments, as is evidenced by the lac...

Surface colonization and microbial dissolution of pyrite were studied in the laboratory and by in situ surface colonization experiments conducted at Iron Mountain, California. Laboratory experiments involved organisms obtained from Iron Mountain and cultured in pH ,1.0, 42 8C solutions designed to enrich for chemolithotrophic species present at acidgenerating sites. Planktonic and sessile micro...