World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

RECOVERY OF MOLYBDENUM (MO) METAL FROM SPENT CATALYSTS BY BIOLEACHING

*Dr. Ramprakash Prajapati

ABSTRACT

Spent catalysts are generated in large quantities as solid waste on a yearly basis from different industries (fertilizer, petroleum and others chemical industries). Due to their hazardous nature, environmental regulations for discarded spent catalysts are very strict. Consequently, from ecological and economical view point, metals recovery from spent catalysts is very important. Molybdenum (Mo) is one of the elements present in spent catalysts at high concentrations. The rapidly growing demands for Mo and its products create a need to develop novel recovery processes from secondary resources, i.e. spent catalysts, as there is a projected shortage of the primary resources for this element. This paper mainly focused on Molybdenum (Mo) recovery from spent catalysts using bioleaching .The rapid industrialization generates a variety of spent catalysts from different industries. These spent catalyst wastes mostly contain Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, Mo, Co and Fe like metals in it. Hence these waste (spent catalyst) materials which are causing serious environmental problems, can act as potential source for metals. In this sense these spent catalyst wastes can act as a artificial ores. The use of a bioleaching process to recover metals from such spent catalyst materials before disposal is a logical but challenging application. Bioleaching is a relatively new concept in which various microorganism (bacteria and fungi) are employed to recover metal values from spent catalyst wastes. Bioleaching is a process based on the ability of microorganism to transform solid compound into soluble and extractable elements, which can be recovered. It represents a “clean technology” given its associated lower cost and energy requirements when compared with non-biological processes.

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