The coupling reaction of Fe2+ bio-oxidation and resulting Fe3+ hydrolysis drastically improve the formation of iron hydroxysulfate minerals in AMD

The oxidation of Fe2+ by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) in acid mine drainage (AMD) is often accompanied by formation of iron hydroxysulfate minerals, such as schwertmannite and jarosite. This study reported that 80 mmol L−1 of Fe2+ could be completely oxidized by A. ferrooxidans LX5 within 48 h, but only 27.7% of the resultant Fe3+ precipitated to form schwertmannite. However, the conversion efficiency to jarosite was much higher (54.5%). The formation of jarosite lasted 120 h, while only 24 h when conversed to schwertmannite. By constructing a cyclic process of ‘Cu-reducing coupled with bio-oxidization’, the total Fe in AMD could be fully converted into mineral precipitates. The resultant mineral specie could be regulated simply by control the K+ concentration. Thermodynamically, Fe3+ cannot hydrolyze spontaneously to form schwertmannite due to the positive Gibbs free energy (ΔrGm∘ = 6.63 kJ mol−1) of the reaction. However, if Fe2+ were biologically oxidized by A. ferrooxidans, the resultant Fe3+ could spontaneously form schwertmannite because the aforementioned coupling reaction has a negative Gibbs free energy (ΔrGm∘ = −34.12 kJ mol−1). Even though Fe3+ itself could hydrolyze to form jarosite spontaneously with ΔrGm∘ = −22.20 kJ mol−1, the coupling reaction of Fe2+ bio-oxidation followed by Fe3+ hydrolysis in the presence of K+ could easily promote the formation of jarosite, which exhibited a great negative Gibbs energy (ΔrGm∘ = −67.45 kJ mol−1).