Alginate-calcium carbonate composite material was prepared in the form of beads and characterized using Fourier transform infra red (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The adsorption of Cd 2? ions was studied through batch experiments. The adsorption parameters such as contact time (120 min), adsorbent dose (1.5 g), initial metal ion concentration(10 mg/L), pH (6) and agitation speed (150 rpm) were optimized at room temperature. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms were applied to the data and it was noted that the adsorption of Cd 2? ions is better explained by Freundlich model. The kinetic studies showed that the adsorption of Cd 2? ions followed pseudo-first order kinetics. Thermodynamic parameters like DG 0 , DH 0 and DS 0 were calculated and on the basis of these values it was established that the adsorption process is feasible and endothermic in nature. It was concluded from the study that the composite material of alginate and calcium carbonate can effectively be used to recover Cd 2? ions from wastewater.

Seven fungal species were isolated from two uranium ores in Alloga region, west central Sinai, Egypt. They were identified as, Aspergillus flavus, Penicillium brevicompactum, P. oxalicum, P. purpurescens, P. lividum, Aspergillus terreus and P. spinulosum. They were tested for bioleaching activity of uranium from its ores, A. terrus and P. spinulosum showed a high leaching activity. The growth of these fungi highly affected by the presence of the ore in the growth media. The amount of uranium solubilized by A. terreus and P. spinulosum was increased with increasing ore concentrations in the growth media, reaching its maximum at 4%(w/v). Whereas, the highest percentage of uranium released by both fungi was obtained at 1%(w/v), at this concentration the released uranium being 75 and 81.5% respectively for ore (OS1) and 72.8 and 77.6% respectively for the second ore (OS2). The best leaching occurs when the final pH shifts toward acidity. The biosorption of released uranium by the fungal mycelium was also increased with increasing ore concentrations in the growth media. One gram dry mycelium of A. terreus and P. spinulosum could bind approximately 9.6 and 14.2% respectively, at 1% of OS1 and 10.8 and 17% respectively, at the same concentration of OS2 from the total uranium solubilized during bioleaching process.

Low grade coal of Lakhra mines was beneficiated using bioleaching technology. This technique has more advantages over their counterparts such as chemical and physical techniques due to its easy processing, simplicity, having no environmental pollution, economic feasibility and maximum removal of contamination like sulfur and ash present in coal composition. Presently bacterial strain of Thiobacillus ferrooxidans was isolated and purified from indigenous sources i.e. Coal mine drainage, hot spring water and soil adjacent to sulphide mineral ore, using simple screening, serial dilution and growth culturing. Isolated microorganisms were applied on low grade reduced size/powdered coal collected from mines site. Chemical evolution of coal revealed that this sample has 44.45% of ash and 7.03% of sulfur along with 2.3% of Iron. Microbial processing was continued for maxim 36 days which successfully reduced up to 57.33% of sulfur, 75.21% ash and 87.7% iron. Optimization of parameters such as pH, grain size, aeration time and pulp density were also been optimized. The results were confirmed by 100, 50 and 20 magnification of scanning electron microscope (SEM) fallowed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Contribution/ Originality: This study contributes in existing literature about the bio desulphurization of low grade coal having high contaminations. Presently we have selected the sample from Lakhra mines with high percentage of sulfur, ash and associated minerals for bioleaching process. It is found successful for beneficiation of such type of coals. 1. INTRODUCTION Need of energy is the basic requirement of every living body; various sources are available for fulfillment like solar, wind, electrical, and coal sources. All other sources of energy are comparably neat & clean, however use of coal for energy purpose have adverse effects for our environment, animal health, plants and damaging of solid structures. This behavior is due to presence of contaminations in coal composition such as high sulfur, minerals and burden of ash; on combustion of coal it produces sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide and also producing high ash burden

Background This study is aimed to synthesize nanosize zinc oxide by acid catalyzed sol–gel process using zinc nitrate hexahydrate as precursor, aqueous isopropanol as solvent and glycerin for making polyol system. The polyol mediated procedure was employed in combination with calcination induced synthesis of nanoparticles of numerous sizes obtained with the variation in calcination temperature from 500 to 900 ℃. The crystal structure of the prepared samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). Infrared spectroscopy (IR) was used to identify the surface hydroxyl groups. Thermal stability was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry-thermogravimetric analysis (DSC-TGA) whereas field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used to study the surface morphology of nanoparticles. Results Results revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure of irregular shaped nanoparticles having size ranging from 50–100 nm. However, the particles combined to form agglomerates of 200–400 nm with the rise in calcination temperature. Conclusions These results indicate that nanosize zinc oxide can be synthesized successfully by a simple process comprising of glycerin as a low-cost, non-toxic and eco-friendly polyol followed by calcination at ambient temperatures.

A low-grade siliceous sedimentary phosphate rock assaying 22.05% P205 was upgraded by double float (direct and reverse) technology. The rock contains collophane (carbonate fluorapatite) as the valuable phosphate mineral along with siliceous, carbonaceous and clay minerals. A process was developed which yielded a high-grade phosphate concentrate with improved recovery rate. The developed process consists of three parts. The first part includes wet grinding of ore to liberation point followed by separation of fines (slimes) by cone classifier. The finely ground deslimed ore was floated by direct anionic flotation using oleic acid collector to get rougher phosphate concentrate. It was cleaned once using additional quantity of reagents. In the second part, the fines generated during grinding operation were floated by column flotation to recover phosphate values. The cleaned concentrate and column concentrate were mixed together and washed thoroughly with hot water to remove the attached reagents. The final part comprises of cationic flotation of combined phosphate concentrate with fatty amine collector to float away quartz and silicates and to leave behind phosphate values. The grade of final phosphate concentrate was found to be 32.85% P205 with an overall recovery of 88.14%. The concentrate obtained meets the specifications of fertilizer and acid grade.