Heterotrophic bacterial bioleaching and sequestration of uranium from mineral resources: a review

spp. Commercial applications of heterotrophic bacterial bioleaching and biomass sorption of uranium have not emerged. Uranium sequestration in biomass constituents such as EPS and siderophores can represent a significant fraction of biomass sorption and make uranyl ions biologically unavailable to the cells. Precipitation with phosphates particularly immobilizes uranyl ions and can result in crystallized mineral phases. The biological reduction of U(VI) to solid-phase U(IV) is an immobilization technique to prevent uranium migration in aquifers and reduce environmental impact, potentially as part of remediation strategies such as permeable reactive barrier construction.