Phytoaccumulation of Copper from Aqueous Solutions Using Eichhornia Crassipes and Centella Asiatica

Abstract

Phytoremediation is a relatively new approach to treat wastewater contaminated by organic and inorganic substances including heavy metals. The effectiveness of two aquatic plants, Centella asiatica and Eichhornia crassipes, were evaluated for their capabilities in removing copper from copper solution. The aim of this study is to determine the potential of these aquatic plants to act as hyperaccumulators. The aquatic plants were put in 8 liters of solution containing 1.5 mg/L, 2.5 mg/L and 5.5 mg/L of copper, for a period of 21 days. Analyses of heavy metals contents were conducted using an Atomic Adsorption Spectrometer. Results showed an increase of copper within the plants' roots and shoots tissues and a decrease of copper concentration in the solution. The maximum removal of copper in the solutions containing Centella asiatica was 99.6 % as compared to 97.3 % in solutions containing Eichhornia crassipes. Centella asiatica accumulated a maximum amount of copper of 1353.0 mg/kg whereas Eichhornia crassipes accumulated 1147.5 mg/kg of copper in their roots. The accumulation of copper of more than 1000 mg/L in plant tissues indicate that both aquatic plants can be considered as hyperaccumulators of copper. Roots tend to accumulate a higher amount of copper than shoots due to translocation process. Significant removal of copper were obtained at p<0.01 for containers containing both aquatic plants, indicating that Centella asiatica and Eichhornia crassipes can be utilized in the phytoremediation method to remove copper from wastewater.

Phytoremediation potential of aquatic herbs from steel foundry effluent

“…Similar findings were also reported by Lu (2011) while working on lettuce that was a hyper accumulator of Fe, Pb and Cu.The same kind of findings were also reported by Mokhtar et al (2011) and Mishra and Tripath (2008).…”

Copper Removal Efficiency in a Surface Water and Compartmentalization in the Floating Fern Salvinia minima

“…Moreover, the highest copper removal was observed in the treatment with the highest initial copper concentration. A similar trend was also reported for Centella asiatica and E. crassipes [21] and for L. gibba [22]. In the literature, there is one previous work on the evaluation of copper uptake by S. minima.…”

The Role of Heavy Metals-Resistant Bacteria Acinetobacter sp. in Copper Phytoremediation using Eichhornia crasippes [(Mart.) Solms]

“…The result was similar with the previous study in sunflower plants. Total chlorophyll content decreased in sunflower plants under nickel and lead treatment [17].…”

“…Water sample from the container was also collected and destrupted with the same way for measuring the copper removal efficiency by E. crassipes. The removal efficiency was calculated as (Ci-Cf/Ci) x 100 % where C is the initial concentration and C is the remaining copper concentration in the solution [17].…”