Srabani Mishra

In the current era, the alarming rate at which coal is being burned as a fuel is causing concern with regard to the release of sulphur oxides. According to reports, global coal consumption has increased by 0.4% in 2014. While countries like UK, Ukraine etc. have witnessed a decline in coal consumption, some others like India, China, Africa and Nort...

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is recognised as a serious and global environmental problem. The major producer of these toxic effluents is the mining industry. Owing to the severe effects of these effluents, their prevention and treatment have been a primary focus of research over several decades. The problems have invited the attention of a large group...

Pyrite ash, a waste by-product formed during roasting of pyrite ores, is a good source of valuable metals. The waste is associated with several environmental issues due to its dumping in sea and/or land filling. Although several other management practices are available for its utilization, the waste still awaits and calls for an eco-friendly biotec...

Bioleaching studies for chalcopyrite contained ball mill spillages are very scarce in the literature. We developed a process flow sheet for the recovery of copper metal from surface activated (600 A degrees C, 15 min) ball mill spillage through bio-hydrometallurgical processing route. Bioleaching of the activated sample using a mixed meso-acidophil...

The book presents the most advanced biotechnological information with respect to microbial applications in the treatment of mineral-metal bearing wastes. With growing interest in practical industrial applications of biomining microbes, of late, a lot of research has been devoted towards exploring their biotechnological potential for processing wast...

BACKGROUND A bioleaching process could offer the advantage of higher metal recovery in a sustainable manner even from lithium‐ion battery (LIB) samples with very low metal concentrations. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the use of secondary resources such as LIBs for various purposes including transportation, large‐scale e...

Mineral biotechnological applications e.g. bioleaching and bio-beneficiation, for waste treatment and resource recovery have invited due attention owing to their economic and eco-friendly benefits in comparison to the conventional methods. Although research has progressed well, there are several aspects that are still not well understood and requir...

There is a growing interest in electronic wastes (e-wastes) recycling for metal recovery because the fast depletion of worldwide reserves for primary resources is gradually becoming a matter of concern. E-wastes contain metals with a concentration higher than that present in the primary ores, which renders them as an apt resource for metal recovery...

Of late, sustainable energy development has received considerable importance throughout the world due to the growing concerns regarding climate change and environment protection. This in turn, has led to the search for alternatives, which are ecofriendly and cost-effective. Turkey possesses vast resources of lignite and renewable energies, which if...

Halophiles have been used as bioremediation agents in degradation of organic pollutants and acidophilic microorganisms are considered as efficient metal leaching agents for mineral-metal bearing wastes. In the present study, halophilic bacteria (Bacillus tequilensis CH) and a mixed culture of acidophilic bacteria were used for their visual detectio...

The growing demand for rare earth elements (REEs) confronted with a parallel supply risk, draws major interest to utilize secondary resources bearing higher REE content than the primary resources. The European Commission has recently identified bauxite as a Critical Raw Material (CRM). In particular, unexploited bauxite residues have invited due at...

Agricultural, domestic and industrial activities contribute in releasing several organic and inorganic substances into the water streams that result in environmental pollution. Biological treatment of industrial and domestic wastewater using Activated Sludge Nutrient Removal (ASNR), the conventional process, is well known; however, it is relatively...

Mineralogically distinct coal samples respond differentially to microbial attack. In the present study, a mixed meso-acidophilic bacterial consortium predominantly comprising of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans strain was investigated for its biodesulphurization abilities for three distinct sulphur bearing samples (Goa CPC, Rajasthan Lignite, Assam C...

Turkey is a country with vast lignite reserves, which can serve as a potential source of energy to meet the rising energy demands. However, the sulphur present in coal delimits its application in several sectors. Recently, various techniques have emerged for sulphur removal from coal. In the present study, the efficacy of Rhodococcus erythropolis D...

Coal has been serving as a profuse source of energy since centuries and several attempts are being made to reduce sulphur emission levels from coal. Recently, pretreatment techniques such as ultrasonication and utilization of surfactants as additives have surfaced aiming at improving the biodesulphurization of coal. In the present study, biodesulph...

The low rank coal lignite stands out to be a profuse source of energy in Turkey and accounts for nearly 43% of its total fossil fuel production. However, the high sulfur content associated with lignite averts its application in several sectors due to various health and environmental issues. In the present work, biodesulphurization of Turkish lignit...

Simultaneous multi-metal leaching from industrial pyrite ash is reported for the first time using a novel bioreactor system that allows natural diffusion of atmospheric O2 and CO2 along with the required temperature maintenance. The waste containing economically important metals (Cu, Co, Zn & As) was leached using an adapted consortium of meso-acid...

A native isolate, 9C, identified as Rhodococcus ruber (Genbank Accession number – KY029073) was studied for dibenzothiophene degradation and subsequent bio-desulphurization of three different sulphur bearing materials (NE coal containing organic sulphur; lignite containing pyritic sulphur and a calcined petroleum-coke) of Indian origin. The isolate...

One of the most applied biological treatment method for domestic and industrial waste water treatment is the conventional activated sludge nutrient removal process. Although the conventional treatment methods are simple and have relative importance, they are rather expensive and require higher energy inputs. Algal waste water treatment is however,...

Microbe–mineral interactions are very pervasive in nature. Since coal is a chief source of nonrenewable energy and finds its application in a wide variety of sectors, the importance of microbe–mineral interaction is indispensible for developing a sustainable microbial coal biotechnology. The underlying necessity of microbe–mineral interaction is al...

A variety of low-grade ore deposits such as copper, nickel, gold, uranium and others available throughout the world are dumped as wastes due to the unsuitability of conventional methods of metal recovery. As a result of the gradual depletion of the oxide as well as the high-grade ore deposits, particular concern is being raised to process the low-g...

Dumping of low-grade chalcopyrite encompasses several environmental problems. Despite slow dissolution rate, meso-acidophilic bioleaching is preferred for the extraction of copper from such ores. In the present study, meso-acidophilic bioleaching of a low-grade chalcopyrite in presence of an acid-processed waste newspaper (PWp) is discussed for the...

Copper slag was subjected to in-depth mineralogical characterization by integrated instrumental techniques and evaluated for the efficacy of physical beneficiation and mixed meso-acidophilic bioleaching tests towards recovery of copper. Point-to-point mineral chemistry of the copper slag is discussed in detail to give better insight into the associ...

Over the past few decades, the upcoming scientific scenario of the ever growing area of biotechnology finds a successful application of some eco-diversified microorganisms which are employed for the recovery of metals from ores and other industrial wastes. A lot of mineral oxidizers and reducers are found in natural environments which involve a dif...

Recent Findings from S. Panda and Co-Authors Provide New Insights into Chemical Engineering By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering --New research on Chemical Engineering is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Baripada, India, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Bioleaching stu...

Meghalaya state situated in northeastern (NE) region of India contains about 6.17% total sulphur (4.7% organic) with a gross calorific value of 26,208 J/g. In the present study, the coal sample was subjected to biodesulphurization along with optimization of various process parameters using a bacteria isolated from the native coal mine site." Our ne...

Heap bioleaching technology is favoured by most of the industries today for the extraction of metals such as copper, gold, nickel, uranium from low or lean grade ores. Recently many commercial bioleaching plants are in operation throughout the world. The use of certain acidophilic microorganisms such as thoese of the A. ferrooxidns, L. ferrooxidans...

Abstract: Microbial analysis of a 2X1000-tonne bio-heap leaching plant of Malanjkhand copper ore was done. Continuous monitoring of the micro-organism profile was done through conventional methods. The evolution of microbial population was done at quarterly intervals. The bacterial cultures were allowed to grow on Feo medium and FeSo medium. Three...

Coal based sponge iron industries in India generate considerable quantity of solid waste, 40% of which is flue dust produced from the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) connected to rotary kiln. This paper reports the dissolution of Zn, Cu, Pb, Mn and Fe from the ESP dust using three fungal species, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Asperg...

An eco-friendly microbial method for synthesis of silver colloid solution with antimicrobial activity is developed using a fungal strain of Penicillium purpurogenum NPMF. It is observed that increase in concentration of AgNO3 increases the formation of silver nanoparticle. At 5 mM concentration highly populated polydispersed nanoparticles form. Fur...