Microcalorimetric determination of bioleaching activity and temperature dependence

In percolator experiments with a pyritic ore and the mesophilic Thiobacillus ferrooxidans as leaching bacterium the metal sulfide oxidation was accurately quantified by measuring calorimetrically the thermal power of ore samples within 1 to 2 h in batch experiments. Furthermore, the temperature dependence, i. e. the activation energy, of this leaching reaction was also calorimetrically determined. The data show that microcalorimetry might be a suitable short-time method for the quantification of the mobilization rates of heavy metal ions in natural leaching biotopes.