Identificación de métodos analíticos para determinar cianuro en sistemas acuosos

Abstract

Mining in Ecuador began centuries ago, over the years guilds were formed in order to extract the largest amount of gold and silver, for the extraction of these elements the most used method is cyanidation, which is the cause of great pollution in the soil, air and water of the nearest places where this process takes place, cyanide is a highly toxic compound that in concentrations greater than 100 mg/kg can cause death, for the determination of this compound there are several methods both chemical and instrumental. The objective of the research is to identify analytical methods through a bibliographic review to propose an adequate and effective method for determining the concentration of cyanide in aqueous systems. The methodology used was of the bibliographic-descriptive type, where information was collected from various databases, scientific articles, theses and books where the methods used and the concentrations of cyanide present in the evaluated sites in Ecuador and Peru could be known. Finally, it was possible to identify the analytical methods most used in the investigations, of which spectrophotometry is recommended for the following investigations due to its advantages. It was also possible to determine the concentration of cyanide in rivers, lagoons and wastewater in both Ecuador and Peru, giving us the result that both countries have high levels of contamination due to this compound.