Development of a mixed microbial culture for thiocyanate and metal cyanide degradation

The degradation capacity of a mixed culture of Agrobacterium tumefaciens SUTS 1 and Pseudomonas monteilii SUTS 2 for thiocyanate and metal cyanide, in the form of zinc and cadmium, has been determined. The growth of a mixed culture of SUTS 1 and SUTS 2 in cyanide complexes and the cyanide removal efficiency of a fixed-film bio-column system were studied. The results showed that the mixed culture of bacteria can survive and grow in broth media containing thiocyanate and metal cyanide complexes with a maximum cell of 1.03 × 10⁸ CFU/mL on day 3. In addition, the optimal conditions of the fixed-film bio-column system were continuously tested for 24 h, and it was found that this system had the highest removal efficiency at a flow rate of 10 mL/min and 21 min of empty bed retention time, with decreasing thiocyanate, zinc, and cadmium from 85, 0.44, and 0.044 to 65, 0.21, and 0.038 mg/L, respectively; this is in contrast to cyanide, which was not found within 12 h. Next, the conditions were maintained for 30 days, and it was found that the system had removed more than 50% of cyanide complexes, except cadmium. The complex residues were 29.96, 0.16, 0.204, and 0.085 mg/L of thiocyanate, cyanide, zinc, and cadmium, respectively. In addition, the growth of the SUTS 1 and SUTS 2 mixed culture increased. The by-product compounds sulfate and nitrate were found throughout the experiment, whereas bicarbonate and ammonia were found only on certain days.