Chemical and Biological Cyanide Destruction and Selenium Removal from Precious Metals Tailings Pond Water

Details

• Personal Author:
  Altringer PB ; Dinsdale BE ; Gardner KR ; Lien, R. H.
• Description:
  The U.S. Bureau of Mines is investigating chemical and biological decontamination of complex wastewaters such as tailings pond water containing 280 ppm CN and 5 ppm Se as well as significant concentrations of arsenic, copper, iron, silver, and zinc. The most effective chemical procedure involves cyanide oxidation using hydrogen peroxide or sodium hypochlorite followed by selenium reduction using ferrous hydroxide. The effluent contains less than or equal to 1 ppm CN and 20 ppb Se; concentrations of other major contaminants meet Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards. Preliminary research indicates that biological cyanide oxidation is possible even in highly alkaline solutions (ph 10.5) containing high cyanide concentrations; indigenous bacteria destroyed 85 pct of the cyanide. Exploratory research shows that other bacteria removed up to 79 pct of the selenium from chemically oxidized, low-cyanide water. These promising results may lead to a final processing scheme that involves a combination of chemical and biological techniques. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Exposure Environmental Pollution Metals Metals, Heavy Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Environmental Contamination Environmental Pollution Heavy Metals Waste Treatment
• Series:
  Mining Publications
• ISBN:
  9780873391221
• Publisher:
  The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 8 ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  SLRC - Salt Lake City Research Center
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  323-339
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:10011750
• Citation:
  EPD congress 90: proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Extradition and Processing Division and held at the TMS Annual Meeting, February 19-22, 1990, Anaheim, California. Gaskell DR, ed. Warrendale, PA: Minerals Metals & Materials Society, 1990 Feb; :323-339
• Editor(s):
  Gaskell DR
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1990
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  EPD congress 90: proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Extradition and Processing Division and held at the TMS Annual Meeting, February 19-22, 1990, Anaheim, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1bdd874b06a35b825df6225ee159a915b208db9b7173bed9dfb13378ad2697ee6fd70fe8e2b3cfc61f52cae3a98b1cd4bc3768eebcfeeb59e4e77305ff90b3ce
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/220196/cdc_220196_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 847.17 KB ]