Final Project Report on "Microbial Leaching of uranium from Narwapahar ore"

Uranium ore from Narwapahar Mines, UCIL contains 0.047% U 3 O 8 with some refractory minerals and high apatite (5%) results in a maximum 78% recovery through conventional processing at UCIL, with a fairly high consumption of sulfuric acid and pyrolusite, and loss of uranium as uranium phosphate. To avoid usage of non-eco-friendly oxidants, obviate the influence of phosphate, and improve the overall process output of uranium, an alternate extraction technology using microbial isolate(s) was proposed under this project. A.ferrooxidans isolated from Narwapahar mine water was found amenable to uranium bioleaching. Optimum uranium bio-recovery is achieved at 10% PD (w/v) of 96% pH 1.7 and 35 o C in 40 days with the fine particles of