title: Effect of mineral constituents in the bioleaching of uranium from uraniferous sedimentary rock samples, Southwestern Sinai, Egypt.
abstract: Bioleaching, like Biotechnology uses microorganisms to extract metals from their ore materials, whereas microbial activity has an appreciable effect on the dissolution of toxic metals and radionuclides. Bioleaching of uranium was carried out with isolated fungi from uraniferous sedimentary rocks from Southwestern Sinai, Egypt. Eight fungal species were isolated from different grades of uraniferous samples. The bio-dissolution experiments showed that Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus terreus exhibited the highest leaching efficiencies of uranium from the studied samples. Through monitoring the bio-dissolution process, the uranium grade and mineralogic constituents of the ore material proved to play an important role in the bioleaching process. The tested samples asserted that the optimum conditions of uranium leaching are: 7 days incubation time, 3% pulp density, 30 °C incubation temperature and pH 3. Both fungi produced the organic acids, namely; oxalic, acetic, citric, formic, malonic, galic and ascorbic in the culture filtrate, indicating an important role in the bioleaching processes.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Maisa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ibrahim E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Elaassy
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mohamed G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: El-Feky
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Abdel Sattar M
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Sallam
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mona S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Talaat
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo, Egypt. Electronic address: nillyKawady@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Nilly A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kawady
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000378:metabolism; D001234:Aspergillus niger / Q000378:metabolism; D004534:Egypt; D008903:Minerals / Q000378:metabolism*; D014501:Uranium / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D008903:Minerals; D014501:Uranium
keywords: Aspergillus niger; Aspergillus terreus; Fungal organic acids; Uraniferous sedimentary rock; Uranium bioleaching