PROMETHEE and BRGM, the French geological survey, are organising a milestone workshop dedicated to bioleaching and biohydrometallurgy on October 10, 2018. The event will focus on the bioleaching state-of-the-art, current research and industrial projects and perspectives of development. The event is highly relevant for researchers working in the EU projects CROCODILE, NEMO, METGROW+, SULTAN, SOCRATES and many others who are integrating biohydometallurgy methods in a comprehensive metallurgical toolbox. Access to the workshop is free of charge. (AGG & PTJ, Orléans/Leuven, 20/9/2019)
3rd PROMETHEE Workshop: Bioleaching, from the mechanisms to the process, from experimental approaches to modelling
- October 10th, 2018 – BRGM, Orléans (France)
- Organisers: PROMETHEE (http://gdr-promethee.cnrs.fr/index.php/fr/) and BRGM (http://www.brgm.eu/)
- Access is free
- Registration: www.brgm.fr/seminaire-biolix
Rationale
For several years securing eco-efficient access to metals from mineral resources, combined with a minimum environmental footprint ,has become a critical economic, social and scientific challenge. At the same time, the development of alternative routes to traditional processing is still required in order to be able to treat new resources, which have more complex, heterogeneous and variable composition, with lower grades. In this context, biotechnologies raise more and more interest for the treatment of primary ores as well as for metal recovery from waste recycling. Bioleaching is a bioprocess that uses the properties of “lithotrophic” microorganisms to extract metals from various mineral matrixes.
This technology has been used at industrial scale for many years, especially for the treatment of gold and copper ores and numerous research works are still carried out to extend its application to various types of resources (Ni and Co ores, mining wastes, industrial wastes, wastes from the urban mines, especially electronic wastes…). The development of bioleaching faces major scientific and technical challenges at the interfaces of multiple fields: microbiology, biochemistry, process engineering, bioprocessing, electrochemistry, thermodynamic, chemistry, biohydrometallurgy… Working on bioleaching means dealing with a complex multiphasic system (solid, liquid, gas and microbes) that requires cross-disciplinary approaches. The purpose of this workshop is to facilitate exchanges between researchers from all this fields and practitioners of the technology to contribute to the development of bioleaching.
Keynote lectures
- Biomining Fundamentals, Prof. Axel Schippers (BGR, Germany)
- Bioleaching process modeling, Prof. Jochen Petersen (Université of Cape Town, South Africa)
- Industrial applications of bioleaching processes, Dr. Dave Dew (Dewality Consulting, UK)
PROMETHEE group
PROMETHEE group gathers French scientists working in the field of hydrometallurgy. It was created to contribute to the structuring of the research dedicated to the development of hydrometallurgical processes for a better management of mineral resources from mining activities or recycling.
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Detailed programme 3rd PROMETHEE Workshop
Intros
- 8h30-9h00: Welcome, Coffee
- 9h00-9h10: Introduction (P. d’Hugues, BRGM)
Keynotes
- 9h10-9h40: A. Schippers (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany) – Biomining fundamentals
- 9h40-10h10: J. Petersen (University of Cape Town, South Africa) – Bioleaching process modeling
- 10h10-10h40: D. Dew (Dewality, UK) – Industrial applications of bioleaching processes
- 10h40-11h00: Coffee break, posters
Technical presentations
- 11h00-11h20: Archane (Milton Roy Europe) – A new concept of low duty bioreactor to improve bioleaching economy
- 11h20-11h40: A.G. Guezennec (BRGM) – Importance of gas mass transfer in bioleaching processes
- 11h40-12h00: E. Olmos (LRGP – Université de Lorraine) – Hydrodynamic modeling of bioleaching reactors
- 12h00-12h20: A. Hubau (Chimie Paris) – Bioleaching applied to the recovery of metals contained in E-wastes
- 12h20-12h40: L. Filipov (Géoressources, Université de Lorraine) – The BioMore project: extracting metalsfrom deep mineralized ores using bioleaching
- 12h40-13h00: P. Cézac (LATEP – Université de Pau) – Contribution of geochemical modeling to theoptimisation of bioleaching processes
- 13h00-14h30: Lunch
Panels
- 14h30-15h10: Panel 1: Biohydrometallurgy: Pros and Cons as a technical option for extractive metallurgy
- 15h10-15h50: Panel 2: Bioleaching reactors optimisation
- 15h50-16h05: Coffee break, posters
- 16h05-16h45: Panel 3: Bioleaching and Urban Mine: perspectives for metal recycling
- 16h45-17h00: Closing