Metal Solubilization by Microorganisms from a Technological and Environmental Perspective

Dear Colleagues,

The consumption of metals in the world is continuously increasing to support the requirements of our modern society. As a result, new technologies are needed to recover metals even from ore reserves with metal grades that do not allow the use of traditional technologies. Numerous chemolithotrophic microorganisms, ubiquitous in mining environments, are capable of catalyzing the solubilization of metals from metal sulfides. This ability of bioleaching microorganisms is the basis of the well-known bioleaching and biooxidation processes that are applied commercially in the recovery of some metals. Bioleaching could also be applied to huge amounts of mining wastes but also from many other sources (electronic wastes, depleted batteries and devices, metal-contaminated sediments and materials, etc.) that still present a high metal load that could be recovered allowing them to be dispersed in the environment with little or no environmental impact. However, this same microbial action, when it occurs under uncontrolled environmental conditions, significantly increases the formation of acid mine drainage in active or abandoned mines; in this case, it is essential to control or prevent microbial participation to avoid a significant environmental impact.

In this special issue, we invite original papers on different aspects of the solubilization of metals by microbial action from a technological perspective, oriented to the recovery of metals from primary or secondary sources and also from an environmental perspective including different aspects on the generation and/or inhibition of acid drainage with microbial contribution. The knowledge of bioleaching microorganisms, their natural microbial niches as well as the interaction between microorganisms and minerals or materials with metal content, are relevant to improve the efficiency of biosolubilization processes to recover metals but also to generate alternatives to prevent the generation of acid drainage; therefore, advances on these fields will also be of interest for this Special Issue.

Dr. Edgardo Rubén Donati
Dr. Camila Castro
Dr. Mario Vera
Guest Editors

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