Nitrification and aerobic denitrification in cyanide-containing wastewater

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities that utilise cyanide in various chemical forms have resulted in the disposal of cyanide-contaminated effluents into drainage systems that ultimately reach wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), without prior treatment. Cyanides (CN) and soluble salts could potentially inhibit biological processes in WWTP, which are responsible for the removal of contaminants from incoming wastewaters. The removal of nitrogenous compounds from such waters in processes such as nitrification and denitrification is among the core biological processes used to treat wastewaters in WWTP. Electroplating and mining industries are among the perpetrators of cyanide contamination of WWTP. The presence of these hazardous contaminants results in the alteration of metabolic functions of the microbial populations that are utilised in WWTP, thus rendering the wastewater treatment process ineffective. In this study, bacterial isolates that were able to carry out nitrification and aerobic denitrification under high salinity cyanogenic conditions were isolated from poultry slaughterhouse effluent. These strains were referred to as I, H and G. The isolated bacterial species were found to be able to oxidise ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) in the presence of free cyanide (CN-) under halophilic conditions. Isolates I, H and G were identified using the 16S rDNA gene and were identified to be Enterobacter sp., Yersinia sp. and Serratia sp., respectively. Furthermore, Response Surface Methodology was used to optimise the physicochemical conditions suitable for the proliferation of the isolates for free-cyanide degradation, nitrification and aerobic denitrification.