Bioleaching of uranium from low grade black schists by Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

Moon Sung Choi, Kyung Suk Cho, Dong Su Kim, Hee Wook Ryu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

The feasibility of bacterial recovery of uranium from the low grade black schists occurring in the Okcheon district, South Korea, was investigated. Following the introduction of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, 80% of the uranium could be extracted from the schists, which contain 0.01% U3O 8 by weight, within 60 h at a pulp density of 100 g-ore/l. Only 18% of the uranium was extracted without microbial activity. The uranium-leaching efficiency was not greatly affected by the addition of Fe2+ in the range of 5-9 g/l, and the leaching efficiency of uranium from the schists by A. ferrooxidanscould be efficiently maintained at high pulp densities (up to 500 g-ore/l).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)377-380
Number of pages4
JournalWorld Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
Volume21
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2005

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a research grant from Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources.

Keywords

  • Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans
  • Bioleaching
  • Black schist
  • Uranium

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