The oxidation of aqueous ferrous sulphate by thiobacillus ferrooxidans

Abstract The iron oxidizing bacteria, Thiobacillus ferrooxidans, were grown in an aqueous ferrous sulphate solution in batch and continuous culture vessels and the dependency of the specific growth rate on ferrous sulphate concentration, temperature, and pH are shown. The effect of carbon dioxide concentration on cell growth is also considered. The phenomenon of wall‐growth is shown to be an important characteristic of the organism which must be considered in any batch or continuous culture experiments. The role that it may have in the biological leaching process is also indicated.