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Bioleaching of Nickel and Cobalt from Lateritic Chromite Overburden Using the Culture Filtrate of Aspergillus niger

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Abstract

Extraction of metals (Ni, Co) from chromite overburden of Sukinda mines of Orissa, India, with the culture filtrate of Aspergillus niger was studied. Results showed that the amounts of metals leached varied directly with reaction temperature and period of fermentation. The culture filtrate was analyzed for citric and oxalic acids, and contained only oxalic acid—the concentration of which increased with time. Although this acid played the major role in leaching of metals, other unidentified metabolites present in the culture filtrate influenced the dissolution of the metals significantly. Maximum recovery of metals from raw and roasted ore samples was achieved at 80 °C with the 21-day culture filtrate containing the highest amount of oxalic acid. Under identical experimental conditions, much higher amounts of the metals were leached from roasted ore. Microstructures of the ore particles were studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy; the bonding behaviors of metal compounds were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy which showed that the metals were leached after chelation with oxalic acid.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere thanks and gratitude to Dr. Arun K. Guha, former professor of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, for his thoughtful suggestions and thorough revision of the manuscript. The authors express their sincere thanks to Mr. Asit De of Central Drug Laboratory (Government of India), Kolkata, for providing the HPLC facility. They acknowledge the kind cooperation and help extended by Er. L. B. Sukla of Biominerals Division, IMMT, Bhubaneswar, India. They would also like to acknowledge the help and support extended by Ms. Suparna Chakraborty of the School of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, and Mr. Saikat Samanta and Mr. Kaustav Bhattacharjee of the Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Jadavpur University. One of the authors (SB) would like to thank UGC for providing fellowship under the scheme “Research Fellowship in Science for Meritorious Students.”

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical and Material Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Supratim Biswas, Rajib Dey & Siddhartha Mukherjee

  2. School of Material Science and Nanotechnology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, 700032, India

    Pataki C. Banerjee

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  1. Supratim Biswas
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  2. Rajib Dey
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  3. Siddhartha Mukherjee
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  4. Pataki C. Banerjee
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Correspondence to Supratim Biswas.

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Biswas, S., Dey, R., Mukherjee, S. et al. Bioleaching of Nickel and Cobalt from Lateritic Chromite Overburden Using the Culture Filtrate of Aspergillus niger . Appl Biochem Biotechnol 170, 1547–1559 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0289-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-013-0289-9

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