Copper is the third most utilized metal and is a versatile resource with multiple beneficial uses, but it may also become toxic to aquatic life in excess amount. Thus, there is a need to develop methods to reduce the copper contamination in the environment, particularly in bodies of water. Phytoremediation using Dendrocalamus asper may offer an environment-benign and potentially effective method for copper removal though its effectiveness may take several years to materialize for this technology to become cost-effective. By growing D. asper in synthesized contaminated water and analyzing the change in the copper content of the substrate via atomic absorption spectrophotometry, the removal was found to be optimal at 20 ppm Cu and pH 5. The rate of removal was found to have an order of 2.71 and a kinetic constant of 0.0013 ppm −1.71 day −1 . With this, it may be possible to estimate the treatment length of phytoremediation given an initial level of copper contamination and a target concentration.
Copper is a commonly used metal in construction, engineering, agriculture and water treatment. Consequently, increased copper concentrations resulting in adverse environmental effects is inevitable. Phytoremediation using Dendrocalamus asper or Philippine giant bamboo (PGB) is a viable option for treatment of copper-contaminated media, but their copper uptake potential remains largely unexplored. As such, the copper uptake of PGB was evaluated under varying environmental conditions, namely initial copper concentration, water hardness and pH.Six-month old propagules were planted in artificially contaminated water in order to determine the copper uptake after 16 days of treatment. Using a Box-Behnken design of experiment, it was found that both initial copper concentration and pH have significant and proportional effects on copper uptake. However, due to possible speciation and/or competition, the optimum copper uptake occurred at 20 ppm Cu and pH 5 (as opposed to 7). A mathematical equation, bearing an R2 = 0.7097, was constructed as a possible model for copper uptake of PGB to understand when PGB phytoremediation is most effective. At copper concentrations lower than 3.81 ppm, higher pH is beneficial to copper uptake and vice versa. Overall, phytoremediation using D. asper or PGB is effective especially at low pH and elevated copper concentrations.
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