Bioleaching of uranium from el-sella ore material using epicoccum nigrum

Abstract

Abstract Uranium (U) is one of the strategic elements and essential for many applications as a fuel in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. Bioleaching of uranium was carried out with Epicoccum nigrum isolated from El-Sella ore material. El-Sella area is located in the southern eastern desert of Egypt. The maximum bioleaching of U(VI) was found to be 76.6 % at these optimum conditions: 9 days incubation period, 0.5% pulp density, 30 °C incubation temperature at shaking speed 175 rpm. Glucose and NH4Cl were considered the best carbon and nitrogen sources for fungal growth. E. nigrum exhibits good potential in generating varieties of organic acids which effective for bioleaching of uranium. It produced 112.3 and 23.5 µg/ml from gallic and ellagic acids in the culture filtrate under the optimum conditions. This work addresses the area of beneficiation of the used mineral to solubilize U(VI) through the biotechnological route in Egypt, where the bioleaching method is more effective than the chemical one using organic acids.