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Cyanide degradation by water hyacinths. Eichornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms

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Summary

Cyanide degradation by water hyacinths, Eichornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms, in solutions containing 3–300 mg/l cyanide was investigated in batch tests. Water hyacinth was more efficient to remove free cyanide in the first 8 hours, compared to cyanide controls, free of plant. Gold mill synthetic effluents containing free cyanide (9 to 20 mg/l), thiocyanate (14 to 23 mg/l), and metallocyanides (iron, copper and zinc) was fed to a continuous lab. scale unit (6 l/h) to confirm the ability of water hyacinth to degrade free cyanide and that it can remove zinc and small amounts of iron. However, copper and thiocyanate remained untouched in the solution. According to the results, water hyacinth is only suitable to be used in conjunction with other cyanide wastewater treatments.

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  1. Centre de Tecnologia Mineral — CETEM/CNPq, Rua 04, Quadra D, Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

    Marcus Granato

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  1. Marcus Granato
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Granato, M. Cyanide degradation by water hyacinths. Eichornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms. Biotechnol Lett 15, 1085–1090 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00129943

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