Assessment of the lead absorptive capacity of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

Date

4-2012

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Chemistry

College

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Fajardo, Norna N.

Committee Member

Rodriguez, Myrna S. Torio, Mary Ann O.

Abstract

Lead absorptive capacity and phytoremediation potential of water hyacinth (Eichhorniacrassipes) were determined and assessed in this study.Dry ash digestion and wet acid digestion were the procedures used in the preparation of plants and water samples, respectively,prior to analysis by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The deep well water used for the lead absorption experiments was tested for temperature, pH, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, phosphate, ammonia-nitrogen, and lead content prior to use. Analysis of control samples by AAS gave an average lead recovery of 89%. Preliminary tests for the lead absorptive capacity of water hyacinth using lead solutions of various concentrations showed the highest lead removal of 65.69% for plants grown in solutions containing 10 mg Pb/L. Water hyacinth samples were thus cultured in deep well water containing 10 mg Pb/L. Plant samples were harvested at various time intervals and analyzed for lead content. Results showed that lead uptake was gradual and that lead accumulated more in the roots than in the leaves and petioles. Water hyacinth gave the highest Bioconcentration Factor of 1573 at 14 days of exposure which suggests that it is a good accumulator of lead. The Transfer Factor (TLF), which is used to assess the translocation ability of a plant species, was also calculated. Water hyacinth gave a TLF of 0.31 which makes it a metal excluder, that is, one which is unable to efficiently transport the metal to the aerial parts of the plant. Upscale approximations were made using the lead absorptive capacity of water hyacinth (fresh basis). For a 14 day treatment of a 1 hectare plot with water hyacinth; approximately 2.4 x 103kg of lead can be removed from the contaminated water

Language

English

Location

UPLB Main Library Special Collections Section

Call Number

LG 993.5 2012 C42 A68

Document Type

Thesis

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS