BIOREMEDIATION OF LOW GRADE ORES

The research work presented in this paper is on a Bioremediation for the recovery of zinc from mining waste i.e. Low grade ore of Hindustan Zinc Limited. They are waste product for the mines, as the recovery process is expensive compared to the recovery product moreover it causes lots of pollution Bioleaching Studies were carried out at different pH using mixed culture grown from mine water. Recovery of zinc in control set (without culture) was 8% in 37 days and at the same pH (1.6) with the culture of Bioleaching bacteria, the recovery of zinc was 89%, whereas at pH 1.8 and 2.0 zinc recovery was 47% and 46% respectively. The best Bioleaching of low grade ore was obtained at pH 1.6. From the results obtained during experimentation it is found that the recovery of zinc is not dependent only on the iron content in the solution because with the same content of iron there is a difference of recovery of zinc. It shows that both types of reaction mechanisms, direct & indirect are involved during Bioleaching process