Cordoba: Bioremediation method for treating cyanide waste from the jewellery industry

Development opportunity

Researchers at the Microbial Metabolism Group of the Biochemical and Molecular Biology Department of Cordoba University, headed by Francisco Castillo, have designed and patented a biological reactor for treating waste cyanide from the jewellery industry.

Cyanide, produced during the recovery of precious metals, is toxic and very difficult to eliminate. The basis of the Cordoba process is the bacteria Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes (CECT5344), which has been deposited in the Spanish Type Culture Collection.

The researchers are now working with colleagues at Extremadura University on optimising the bioreactor for the cyanide decomposition process and adapting it to other industrial uses. As part of this work a mutant strain of P. pseudoalcaligenes has been identified that can withstand cyanide concentrations five times higher than the wild strain.