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Improvement of uranium bioleaching from uranium embedded in granite using microwave pretreatment

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Abstract

We evaluated the effect of uranium bioleaching and mechanism by microwave pretreatment on uranium embedded in granite. The maximum uranium bioleaching ratio reached 93.1% after an ore sample was pretreated with microwave at 10 kW for 10 min, which was approximately 20% higher than untreated. After microwave pretreatment, the generation of micro-cracks can provide more adsorption sites for bacteria and promote contact between uranium-bearing minerals and leaching solution, a portion of the strongly bound uranium in the uranium ore was transformed into weakly bound uranium, and insoluble U(IV) into soluble U(VI), further improving uranium leaching ratio.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (52064001), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20202BABL203022, 20202BABL213016, 20202ACBL213006), the Research Fund Program of Guangdong Key Laboratory of Radioactive and Rare Resource Utilization (2018B030322009), Project of State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment Fundamental Science (Z1602, Z1917), and the Development Fund of State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China University of Technology (No. NRE1929).

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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

    Xuegang Wang, Chao Liu, Zhanxue Sun, Pingchao Ke & Yadan Guo

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

    Xuegang Wang, Bingyou Liao, Shiyong Nie, Zhanxue Sun, Jian Wang & Yadan Guo

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  1. Xuegang Wang
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Correspondence to Xuegang Wang or Chao Liu.

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Wang, X., Liao, B., Nie, S. et al. Improvement of uranium bioleaching from uranium embedded in granite using microwave pretreatment. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 329, 913–922 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07833-6

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