Cadmium, Iron and Chromium Removal from Simulated Waste Water Using Algae, Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce

Phytoremediation involves the use of some aquatic plants for soil and water cleanup. It involves the use of hyperaccumulator plant species that remove metals from contaminated environment. In the present study, the effectiveness of Algae, Water hyacinth and Water lettuce for the removal of Cd, Fe, and Cr from simulated wastewater was tested. The three aquatic plants were grown in aqueous medium and supplemented with 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0mg/l of multi-component metal solution for 15 consecutive days. The experiment showed that the plants were able to accumulate the metals at all concentrations. The respective concentration (mg/kg) ranges of the metals (Cd, Fe & Cr) are: in Algae; 37.38-268.74, 3.10-80.80, 66.78-671.20; water hycinth: 16.59-277.20, 0.56-235.32, 3.12-1661.94; water lettuce: 38.58-208, 0.35-538, 6.05-283.84. The accumulation of metals increased significantly, with increase in the initial concentration of the solution. At all levels, the plants accumulated the metals more in the root than in the shoot, except for Fe in water hyacinth which shows effective translocation from root to shoot. The result also showed that water hyacinth was able to concentrate Cd and Cr better than Fe, while water lettuce concentrated Fe better. All the plants can be used in remediating wastewater, with water hyacinth revealing the best potentiality.