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Bioleaching of uranium from low-grade uranium ore with a high fluorine content by indigenous microorganisms and their community structure analysis

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Abstract

Aiming at recovery of uranium (U) from low-grade uranium ore with a high fluorine content, column bioleaching of uranium extraction with an indigenous mesophilic consortium was studied. The performance of the bacterial community and the effect of chemical parameters on column bioleaching of uranium were investigated. The results showed that U extraction reached a high value of 95.69%, including acid preleaching (65.53%) and bioleaching (30.16%), in a 124-day period of the leaching process. The composition and diversity of the bacterial community were found to be significantly changing in the acid preleaching and bioleaching stages; nevertheless, they existed in residue and pregnant leaching solution samples for the same stage and showed little difference. Additionally, dominant genera in the solid samples, including Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Brevundimonas Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Bacillus, Clostridium XI, and Acidithiobacillus, and the Acidithiobacillus genus were ubiquitous throughout the leaching column, which was in favour of U extraction.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2012AA061504) , the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42267031), Basic Research Project of China Atomic Energy Agency (JCKY2019401D003), Youth Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20202BABL213015), State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment (East China University of Technology) (2022NRE22), and East China University of Technology national college student innovation training program (202010405005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Jiamao Yuan, Zhongkui Zhou, Yubo Ge, Jianping Guo, Zhanxue Sun, Pingchao Ke, Lingling Xu & Wen Zhai

  2. School of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Jiamao Yuan, Zhongkui Zhou, Yubo Ge, Jianping Guo, Zhanxue Sun, Pingchao Ke & Lingling Xu

  3. Institute of Environmental Science & Engineering, School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Zhihui Yang

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  1. Jiamao Yuan
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Yuan, J., Zhou, Z., Ge, Y. et al. Bioleaching of uranium from low-grade uranium ore with a high fluorine content by indigenous microorganisms and their community structure analysis. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 387–398 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08734-y

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