Recovery of Some Valuable Elements from Petroleum Fly Ash by Fungi

Abstract

1. Egyptian petroleum fly ash is highly rich in vanadium, nickel and iron besides traces of other heavy metals such as (Co, Zn, Cu and pb). 2. Ten fungal isolates were isolated from the fly ash sample. The most dominant fungal genera were identified as Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Humicola, Epicoccum and Cladosporium. 3. The fungal isolates were screened for their acid productivity; since organic acids are one of the main agents in the bioleaching process. 4. The sensitivity of the tested fungal isolates toward the heavy metals present in the studied sample was determined in the term of dry wt. which were arranged as follow: A. niger < A. terreus < P. vermiculatum < A. flavus < Humicola hayalothermophila < Cladosporium cladosporioides < Penicillium sp. < Epicoccum nigrum < Cladosporium sp. < Fusarium moniliforme. 5. The maximum fungal growth was obtained with using two-step bioleaching method. The fungal biomass was the highest using sucrose in media (100 g sucrose/ L media).