Mineral Separation with Biological Macromolecules

生物大分子矿物分离

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04292
• 负责人: Dunbar, WScott
• 金额: $ 3.79万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=761106
• 关键词: Mineral; Separation; Biological; Macromolecules

Previous work has demonstrated that peptides of 7 to 12 amino acids selectively bind to minerals of economic interest such as chalcopyrite, enargite, and sphalerite. It was suggested that this could be the basis of a selective mineral separation scheme. More recent work has shown that magnetic nanoparticles functionalized with mineral binding peptides, effectively a magnetic collector, could be used to separate ultra-fine (<38 microns) mineral particles of interest from a synthetic mixture of mineral particles using a magnet once the functionalized nanoparticles were added to the mixture. Separation of chalcopyrite from quartz in mixtures of ultra-fine particles was achieved with 80% recovery and separation of chalcopyrite from enargite was achieved with 65% recovery. A better understanding of the peptide binding mechanism to minerals is needed. Spectroscopic imaging techniques will be applied to characterize the peptide-mineral binding, particularly to determine the role of polar amino acids which, based on alanine scans of the binding peptides, are necessary for binding. Using peptide-functionalized magnetic nanoparticles a SQUID magnetometer will be used to measure the magnetic response of the coated mineral particles to enable the correct determination of the nanoparticle dose.A second objective is to scale up the magnetic separation process. At industrial scale the use of peptides to recover small mineral particles will require that the interaction between the peptides and the mineral particles be confined to a small volume such as a small diameter tube, a form of process intensification. A manifold of small diameter Teflon tubes for mixing slurry with magnetic collectors may provide an inexpensive scalable alternative. Thirdly, since custom peptide manufacture is expensive, an alternative is needed in order for the use of magnetic collectors in mineral separation to be economically viable. Recent work by others has shown that it may be possible to genetically engineer simple bacteria such as E coli, to both synthesize magnetite within their intracellular structures and to enable them to display mineral binding peptides on their outer membranes, thus providing a natural magnetic collector simply by growing the genetically engineered bacteria. Similar genetic engineering can also be done with yeast. These possibilities will be investigated. This program will advance the state of the art of mineral separation and provide several alternatives for better recovery and separation of desired minerals. Also there are many opportunities for HQP training in genetic engineering, micro-reactor design, and technology implementation in the mining industry.

先前的工作已经证明，7 至 12 个氨基酸的肽选择性地与具有经济价值的矿物结合，例如黄铜矿、硫铜矿和闪锌矿。有人建议这可以作为选择性矿物分离方案的基础。最近的工作表明，用矿物结合肽功能化的磁性纳米颗粒（实际上是磁性收集器）一旦功能化纳米颗粒，就可以使用磁铁从矿物颗粒的合成混合物中分离出感兴趣的超细（<38微米）矿物颗粒。被添加到混合物中。超细颗粒混合物中黄铜矿与石英的分离实现了 80% 的回收率，黄铜矿与硫铜矿的分离实现了 65% 的回收率。需要更好地了解肽与矿物质的结合机制。光谱成像技术将用于表征肽-矿物质结合，特别是确定极性氨基酸的作用，基于结合肽的丙氨酸扫描，极性氨基酸是结合所必需的。使用肽功能化磁性纳米颗粒，SQUID 磁力计将用于测量涂覆矿物颗粒的磁响应，以便能够正确确定纳米颗粒剂量。第二个目标是扩大磁分离过程的规模。在工业规模上，使用肽来回收小矿物颗粒将需要将肽和矿物颗粒之间的相互作用限制在小体积内，例如小直径管，这是过程强化的一种形式。用于将浆料与磁性收集器混合的小直径聚四氟乙烯管歧管可以提供廉价的可扩展替代方案。第三，由于定制肽的制造成本昂贵，因此需要一种替代方案，以便在矿物分离中使用磁性收集器在经济上可行。 其他人最近的工作表明，有可能对简单的细菌（如大肠杆菌）进行基因改造，使其在其细胞内结构内合成磁铁矿，并使它们能够在其外膜上展示矿物质结合肽，从而简单地提供天然磁性收集器通过培育基因工程细菌。类似的基因工程也可以用酵母来完成。将调查这些可能性。该计划将推进矿物分离技术的发展，并为更好地回收和分离所需矿物提供多种替代方案。 此外，还有很多机会接受 HQP 在基因工程、微反应器设计和采矿业技术实施方面的培训。