Abstract: The degradation effect of treating the simulating beneficiation wastewater containing xanthate with Bi₂O₃ catalytic oxidation was investigated to check out the effect of light or not, the reaction time, pH value in wastewater, the dosage of Bi₂O₃, the concentration of xanthate, the reusability of catalyst on the catalytic oxidation.The results showed that with the initial xanthate concentration of 30 mg/L, the natural pH=7.2, Bi₂O₃ dosage of 1g/L, no light and stirring for 60min, the degradation rate of xanthate reached 99.74%.If reused for four times, the catalyst still has a good activity.Moreover, in the degradation process of xanthate, no intermediate product was produced.So it has a high practical value.

Key words: Bi₂O₃, Xanthate, Wastewater treatment, Catalytic oxidation