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Tungsten is an important alloying component for the production of different materials. Its efficient extraction from different sustainable resources is necessary to meet the growing demand in the future. In this context, an attempt has been made to recover it from a goldmine overburden sample using the fungal bioleaching technique. The sample contains 0.023% of WO3 in the form of scheelite. The prospect of bioleaching for tungsten recovery from the sample was evaluated by varying pulp density from 1 to 7% (w/v). The leaching rate of tungsten decreased with the increase of pulp density. The maximum tungsten recovery of 86.8% (w/w) could be achieved at the condition of pulp density, 1% (w/v); pH, 6.8; temperature, 32 °C; speed, 120 rpm; contact time, 10 days. Growth of the fungal strain Aspergillus niger in terms of organic acids production was evaluated during the bioleaching experiment and found to be maximum at the pulp density of 1% (w/v). The leaching kinetics of tungsten followed the chemical control model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work deals with the use of iron/sulfur-oxidizing bacterium Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans for the desulfurization of a coal sample from Assam, India. The coal sample contains 3.87% w/w of organic sulfur, 1.4% w/w pyritic sulfur, and 1.29% w/w of sulfate sulfur which altogether are contributing to its total sulfur content of 6.56% w/w. The microbial process followed the oxidative-desulfurization mechanism for the removal of sulfur from the coal sample. The bacterium performed cleavage of the sulfide bonds in pyrite to release the inorganic sulfur. Mass spectroscopic analysis revealed that the bacterial strain A. ferrooxidans performed oxidative desulfurization of a model sulfur-containing organic compound dibenzothiophene to 2-hydroxy biphenyl through the formation of dioxy-dibenzothiophene. A. ferrooxidans cells played the catalytic role to release the sulfur present in organic and inorganic form in the coal sample. The microbial desulfurization process conducted in a shake flask scale (500 mL) removed about 79% of total sulfur from the coal sample in 14 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study of six different freshwater microalgae, collected from Odisha, eastern region of India, has been carried out to find out their potential for biodiesel production. The growth, total lipid, and fatty acid composition of six microalgal strains were determined. Chlorella sp. IMMTCC-2, which exhibited high lipid content with considerable amount of unsaturated fatty acids, was selected for culture in a self-designed photobioreactor in order to study the scale-up possibilities. The result shows significant increase in lipid accumulation from logarithmic phase to stationary phase in the photobioreactor, i.e., from 12.4 to 28.3%. Analyses of the present results suggest that Chlorella sp. IMMTCC-2 is appropriate for biodiesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]