Process for wastewater treatment

摘要

Free cyanide-containing wastewater is treated to destroy the free cyanide content thereof by the step of treating said water with sulfur in the form of polysulfide in an integrated process wherein thiocyanate is also eliminated to produce a non-hazardous wastewater effluent and treating the wastewater in a second step with cultures of bacteria of the genus Thiobacillus in combination with nitrifying bacteria which oxidize ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. The first step is preferably carried out in the presence of a cationic surfactant, preferably a quaternary cationic surfactant, as a catalyst.