Phytoremediation of Polluted Waterbodies with Aquatic plants: Recent Progress on Heavy Metal and Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Heavy metals and organic pollutants are ubiquitous environmental pollutants affecting the quality of soil, water and air. Over the past 5 decades, many strategies have been developed for the remediation of polluted water. Strategies involving aquatic plant use are preferable to conventional methods. In this study, an attempt was made to provide a brief review on recent progresses in research and practical applications of phytoremediation for water resources with the following objectives: (1) to discuss the toxicity of toxic chemicals pollution in water to plant, animals and human health (2) to summarise the physicochemical factors affecting removal of toxic chemicals such as heavy metals and organic contaminants in aqueous solutions by aquatic plants; (3) to summarise and compare the removal rates of heavy metals and organic contaminants in aqueous solutions by diverse aquatic plants; and (4) to summarise chemometric models for testing aquatic plant performance. More than 20 aquatic plants specie have been used extensively while duckweed (L. minor), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water lettuce (P. stratiotes) are the most common. Overall, chemometrics for performance assessment reported include: Growth rate (GR), Growth rate inhibition (% Inhibition), Metal uptake (MU), translocation/transfer factor (TF), bioconcentration factor (BCF), Percent metal uptake (% MU), Removal capacity (RC) and Tolerance index (TI) while absorption rate have been studied using the sorption kinetics and isotherms models such as pseudo-first-order (PFO), pseudo-second-order (PSO), Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin. Using modeling and interpretation of adsorption isotherms for performance assessment is particularly good and increases level of accuracy obtained from adsorption processes of contaminant on plant. Conclusion was drawn by highlighting the gap in knowledge and suggesting key future areas of research for scientists and policymakers.

Microplastic–toxic chemical interaction: a review study on quantified levels, mechanism and implication

“…Heavy metals are ubiquitous and find their way into the environment by natural means and through human activities [37,172]. The sources of heavy metals in the environment are varied including natural weathering and mining of the earth's crust, soil erosion, urban runoff, industrial effluents, sewage discharge, pesticides application and many others [115,75,172]). Their pollution is particularly common where there are high anthropogenic pressures such as harbours and marinas.…”

“…However, the toxicity of microplastic pollution (especially with adhered toxic chemicals) to plants should be investigated. Plants are known to bioaccumulate toxic chemicals, which have been used well in phytoremediation studies [73,75,164,189]. However, the uptake of microplastics by plant could be beneficial for soil as plant is serving as a potential phytoremediator [39].…”