Phycoremediation of Pb+2, Cd+2, Cu+2, and Cr+3 by Spirulina platensis (Gomont) Geitler

Abstract

Phycoremediation is an application of algae for remediate environmental pollution by reducing or eliminating toxicity of such components in waste water. One of environmental problem in Indonesia is heavy metals pollution. Heavy metals are required by microalgae in a trace concentration, but in a high concentration heavy metals are toxic. Spirulina platensis is a microalgae belong to Cyanobacteria that has been used as a single cell protein, feed fish, and supplement. Many researchs on S. platensis had been done to optimize the product. Research on the use of S. platensis for remediation environmental pollution were also had been conducted. But, research on the use of local S. platensis to reduce the concentration of Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ and Cr 2+ , had not yet well developed. Therefore, this research was conducted in order to find out the effect of 1, 3, and 5 mg/L concentrations of Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ and Cr 2+ on the S. platensis population growth and its accumulation. A laboratory experiment was developed with those different concentrations with 3 replications and control. The initial concentration of heavy metals were measured as well as the 7 and 15 days treatment to determine the bioaccumulation of heavy metals by S.platensis . Based on this research, the concentration of 1 mg/L heavy metals may induced the population growth of S. platensis, due to improvement enzymatic process, the concentration of 3 mg/L heavy metals inhibit population growth, and the concentration of 5 mg/L heavy metals was toxic for S. platensis. Since S. platensis was found high tolerance to Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ and Cr 2+ at low concentration, it was recommended that for phycoremediation process using S. platensis more appropriate to be applied for low concentration contaminated water. It was suggested that S. platensis can be used as a metal absorbent and can be cultivated from wastewaters after phycoremediation process for other uses such as fertilizer, with the note that heavy metal contamination in waste water should not exceed 1 mg/L. S. platensis will be better if apply 15 days in contaminated wastewater to get the highest removal heavy metals.

ADSORPTION OF Cd AND Pb USING BIOMASS OF MICROALGAE SPIRULINA PLATENSIS

“…The active sites binding was also confirmed in other bio-adsorbent such as banana peel Hossain.al [31], macroalgae [32] and mushroom [33]. The adsorption of metals are also related to biomass which provides more availability of active sites for binding of ions and this was proved by Huang and Lin [34], Putri et al [35] and Soeprobowati & Hariyati [9]. The studies showed decreasing biomass at the longer incubation time, after rapid growth at first period of incubation.…”

“…This is the major issue in Indonesia was reported the serious effects to organisms [7], [8]. Heavy metals like cadmium and lead are very toxic even at low concentrations [9], [10]. Due to the toxic effects to organisms, cadmium and lead need to be removed before they accumulate in the environment and finally will pass into the human food chain which could result in health problems.…”

“…Many studies had been carried out using S. platensis on heavy metal removal [9], [20], [21]- [23]. However, none of them observed the effectsof heavy metals to density and cell size of microalgae biomass.…”

Assessment of Physicochemical Properties and Comparative Pollution Status of the Dhaleshwari River in Bangladesh

“…Figure 10 shows that the concentration of Cd is above the tolerable limit specified by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (0.003 mg/L and 0.01 mg/L, respectively) [73,74]. Potential sources of cadmium in the Dhaleshwari River include batteries, pigments, and plating businesses [37,70]. The highest Cr concentration observed at D-1 (0.92 mg/L), which may be caused by effluents from the Savar tannery industries, is higher than WHO allowable limit (0.05 mg/L).…”

“…The Association of metals in sediments of various geological stages has a significant impact on the cumulative behavior of heavy metals in aquatic environments [36]. In predicting potential pollution, flexibility, and bioavailability, geochemical speciation and metal distribution in the given chemical fractions are generally used [36][37][38][39]. River water polluted with heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni) can damage crops such as vegetables and rice [40][41][42][43][44].…”