Remoción de la carga contaminante de un aguas sintética que simula efluentes líquidos del proceso de flotación de oro: estudio exploratorio del uso de una planta Cyperus alternifolius para remover la carga contaminante de un agua sintética que simula efluentes líquidos del proceso de flotación de oro.

Abstract

During the development of the project "Alternatives for the treatment of water pollution by artisanal mining: Río Siete case, Cantón Ponce Enríquez, Azuay", the presence of Cyperus alternifolius plants was evidenced in bodies of water contaminated by xanthates from flotation processes. This would indicate that the plant would have some resistance to xanthates with a potential use in effluent phytoremediation. For this reason, the present work aims to study the capacity of the Cyperus alternifolius plant to remove xanthates from water, which simulate liquid effluents from the gold flotation process. For this, the construction of artificial wetlands was carried out on a laboratory scale, which were irrigated with solutions of sodium isopropyl xanthate (SIPX) for 33 days. The results of the study found that experimental plants were able to tolerate an accumulated SIPX mass of 2100 mg, 2275 mg and 2424 mg. It was also determined that by measuring COD it is not possible to quantify the removal of the contaminant due to interference by dissolved organic matter, however, using spectrophotometric methods, SIPX removal was estimated at 98%, 95% and 96% for each experimental wetland. In addition, the sand used as substrate would contribute with about 50% of the contaminant removal due to adsorption. The results indicate that the use of Cyperus alternifolius plants used in this work have potential for phytoremediation of xanthates on a larger scale.