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Bioleaching of rare earth elements from monazite sand

Three fungal strains were found to be capable of bioleaching rare earth elements from monazite, a rare earth phosphate mineral, utilizing the monazite as a phosphate source and releasing rare earth cations into solution. These organisms include one known phosphate solubilizing fungus, Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015, as well as two newly isolated fungi: an Aspergillus terreus strain ML3‐1 and a Paecilomyces spp. strain WE3‐F. Although monazite also contains the radioactive element Thorium, bioleaching by these fungi preferentially solubilized rare earth elements over Thorium, leaving the Thorium in the solid residual. Adjustments in growth media composition improved bioleaching performance measured as rare earth release. Cell‐free spent medium generated during growth of A. terreus strain ML3‐1 and Paecilomyces spp. strain WE3‐F in the presence of monazite leached rare earths to concentrations 1.7–3.8 times those of HCl solutions of comparable pH, indicating that compounds exogenously released by these organisms contribute substantially to leaching. Organic acids released by the organisms included acetic, citric, gluconic, itaconic, oxalic, and succinic acids. Abiotic leaching with laboratory prepared solutions of these acids was not as effective as bioleaching or leaching with cell‐free spent medium at releasing rare earths from monazite, indicating that compounds other than the identified organic acids contribute to leaching performance. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2016;113: 339–348. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.