Spectrophotometric Quantification of Sulfur in Sulfide-containing Wastewater Treated with Microbial

A spectrophotometric method for indirect quantification of microorganism-produced sulfur in wastewater was developed. Sulfur in wastewater was extracted by chloroform, and then evaporated to dryness. The residue was dissolved in ethanol then treated with exceeded bisulphite to convert thiosulfate, the later was reacted with exceeded iodin and the rest was further determined by spectrophotometric method. The results revealed that the present innovative method was characterized by convenience, high sensitivity, high recovery range and well recurred, the limit of detection was as low as 0.03 mg·L-1 and the recovery ranged from 97.8% to 100.2%. Furthermore, the spectrophotometric method was well testified by a liquid chromatographic method with no significant difference. And the innovative method was characterized by simple apparatus, high sensitivity, and low cost in comparison with the HPLC method.