The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 25, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 03, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:
James E. Sharp, Tucson, AZ (US);
Kevin Stuffle, Tucson, AZ (US);
Assignee:
MBX Systems, Inc., Tucson, AZ (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C12N 1/100 ; C12N 1/116 ; C12P 1/04 ; C12P 3/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
C12N 1/100 ; C12N 1/116 ; C12P 1/04 ; C12P 3/00 ;
Abstract
Disclosed is an improved process for using iron-oxidizing bacteria to reactivate the raffinate ferrous sulfate solution in chemical leach operations. The process uses a biological raffinate converter, or BRC, as a key feature of the process. The process provides enhanced efficiency and commercial utility over the best known biological process for converting raffinate ferrous sulfate. The resulting ferric sulfate then can be recycled back into the bioleaching process of, for example, copper from chalcocite.