Exploitation of Bacterial Activities in Mineral Industry and Environmental Preservation: An Overview

Table 1

Flotation, bacteria leaching, and combinations of bacterial conditioning and flotation of −28 mesh coal containing 2.88% pyritic sulfur [69]*.

Process	Coal product specifications
	Coal yield, %	Pyritic sulfur, %	Pyritic sulfur removal, %	Ash, %	Calorific value, kcal/kg
Regular conditioning and one-stage flotation	73.74	1.29	66.76	22.5	—
Bacterial leaching (10 days leaching)	100	1.42	56.6	30.47	5260
Bacterial conditioning (4 hours) and one stage flotation	78.0	0.825	77.63	18.5	6361
Bacterial conditioning (4 hours) and 3-stage flotation	34.36	0.68	91.78	12.03	—

*pH = 2.0 for flotation conditioning and for bacterial leaching, and pH = 9 for all flotation stages.