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Alaska Section, American Water Resources Association Michael R. Lilly, Alaska Section AWRA Northern-Region Director I would like to invite you to the December 1998 Brown-Bag presentation by Tim Pilon, Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. Please note this meeting is the second Wednesday in December. Tim's talk will be a presentation on his thesis research on cyanide degradation. We look forward to seeing you. Please feel free to bring a colleague to the meeting. We will be sharing our meeting with the Alaska Water Wastewater Management Association (AWWMA) Northern Region section. December 9, 1998 "Cyanide Degradation in a Pilot Scale SBBR " ABSTRACT Gold can be extracted from low-grade ore using the heap leach process. In the heap leach process, an aqueous cyanide solution is used to amalgamate gold for collection, concentration, and recovery. After gold recovery is completed, heaps remain contaminated with residual cyanide. Soluble cyanide will leach from the heap over the course of many years. Cyanide can be removed from leachate by chemical or biological processes. A pilot scale sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) is currently being evaluated as a closed, mobile system to treat dilute cyanide wastes. The active microbial consortium was isolated from the Fairbanks Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant in Fairbanks, Alaska. The SBBR is a practical system for treatment of spent heap leachate in remote, cold regions where a mobile, compact unit is required with minimal power requirements. This paper presents data on the biological degradation of cyanide in a pilot scale SBBR during start-up and operation. |