Bio-Mechanical Leaching of Uranium From Low Grade Black Shale

Abstract

The present study was designed to determine the sound effects of ultrasonic treatment and the biologically mediated extraction of uranium from low grade black shale. Low grade uranium was subjected to fungal treatments assisted by sonication by conventional methods. In situ fungal leaching of black shale with different fungal strains in the presence of molasses as growth substrate resulted in highest leaching yield of uranium by Phoma tropica (57.73%) compared to Penicillium chrysogenum (32.30%), Penicillium citrinum (25.59%) and Aspergillus niger (24.23%). Ultrasonication treatment to the growth medium for the fungus improved the leaching yield of uranium with A. niger having more pronounced effects of ultrasonic waves (159%) as compared to other fungi. Phoma tropica resulted in reasonably high concentration of 62.59% in shaking mode using orange pulp as substrate and exceeded to 73.47 % by ultrasound treatment. Maximum effect of ultrasonic waves (52.68%) was found in A. niger, whereas Aspergillus flavus was least effected by ultrasonic waves.

A comprehensive review on the ultrasound-enhanced leaching recovery of valuable metals: Applications, mechanisms and prospects

“…The leaching of rare metals, including lithium [103] , [104] , [106] , [107] , [109] , [110] , vanadium [16] , [19] , [33] , [36] , [87] , [113] , molybdenum [33] , [87] , [89] , [90] , [91] , tungsten [25] , [50] , [51] , indium [38] , [40] , [97] , [99] , gallium [15] , [117] , uranium [59] , [124] , [142] , germanium [35] and zirconium [62] , is also a significant application of ultrasound. Recently, the research mainly focused on the leaching of rare metals from the metal ores and the secondary resources by ultrasound wave, especially for the latter.…”

“…Other researchers have also attempted to incorporate ultrasound waves with other techniques, such as O 2 flow and fungal leaching, to further intensify the leaching process of U. Anjum et al [142] designed research to determine the sound effects of ultrasound and the biologically mediated extraction of U from low-grade black shale. They discovered that the leaching recoveries of U in various fungal strains were all improved with ultrasound assistance, but the enhancement varied in different fungi.…”