Phytoremediation is an emerging technology to remediate contaminated soils. Their implementation in developing countries may be limited by the plant species used. To overcome this situation, plants from the Akouedo landfill have been inventoried in order to identify indigenous plants adapted to soil and environmental conditions. Two sampling zones have been defined, based on the waste dumping activities or not. Four plots (50 × 50 m 2 ) have been defined. The plant species collected were used to constitute vouchers for identification. Plants frequency occurrence was used to evaluate their relative importance, while the Shannon and evenness indices were calculated to characterize the diversity. The plant families and species identified were compared to those described as heavy metals phytoaccumulators in the literature. A total of 130 taxa belonging to 39 families have been recorded. The most frequent families (36.9% of the total taxa) were Poaceae, Euphorbiaceae and Cyperaceae. The dominant taxa on the old waste dumpsite having an average density superior to 5 plants/m 2 and occurring less frequently on the control site were Alternanthera sessilis, Amaranthus spinosus, Cyperus rotundus, Cyperus iria, Eleusine indica, Euphorbia glomerifera, Ipomoea triloba, Portulaca oleracea and Trianthema portulacastrum. These plant species may be indigenous phytoaccumulators on the Akouedo landfill.

This study aims to assess the effective capacity of Panicum maximum to accumulate cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni) and lead (Pb). P. maximum observed in a greenhouse was subjected to 2 ppm of Cd, 50 ppm of Ni, 100 ppm of Pb contaminated soil and uncontaminated soil, for 120 days. Plant growth and biomass produced concentration of trace metals in soil and plant, bioaccumulation and transfer factors, location of potentially toxic elements in tissues and cells of plant have been determined. Stem length and biomass produced by P. maximum were higher on the uncontaminated soil followed respectively by those of soil-contaminated by Pb, Cd and Ni. Bioaccumulation factors of trace metals were 8.93 (Pb), 8.47 (Ni) and 3.37 (Cd). Ni was more accumulated in shoot biomass (FT > 1), while Pb and Cd were concentrated in root biomass (FT < 1). Pb is accumulated preferentially in endodermis (roots) and epidermis (leaves). As for Ni and Cd, they are concentrated in central cylinder of roots and in conductive bundles of leaves. At cellular level, Ni and Cd are mainly concentrated in intracellular compartments of leaves and roots, while Pb is strongly detected at cell walls.

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The restoration of soils polluted by trace metals (Pb and Cd) by phytoremediation is an innovative and ecologically sustainable solution. The objective of the study was to develop a process of phytoaccumulation of trace metals (Pb and Cd) in soils with the species Panicum maximum. For this purpose, 30 buckets containing soil were used. These included six (06) buckets per dose of soil contamination by Pb and Cd (3 mg/kg and 9 mg/kg of Cd and 100 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg of Pb) and six (6) buckets containing uncontaminated soil (control). During a period of 90 days of experimentation, the concentrations of trace metals in the plant biomass and in the soils were measured. Also, the bioaccumulation (BF) and translocation (TF) factors, the mass of Pb and Cd taken up by the plant were determined. The results showed that the biomass produced was negatively influenced by increasing Pb and Cd concentration.

Cette étude s’est proposée de valoriser la pomme de cajou e combustible. Le matériel est constitué de pommes de cajou séchée non carbonisée (PCSNC), pommes de cajou fermentées séchées carbonisées (PCFSC),, pommes de cajou séchées et carbonisées (PCSC), briquettes comportant 100% de pommes carbonisées et 0% de sciure de bois carbonisée (BPC100), briquettes comportant 80% de pommes carbonisées et 20% de sciure de bois carbonisée (BPC80), briquettes comportant 70% de pommes carbonisées et 30% de sciure de bois carbonisée (BPC70), briquettes comportant 60% de pommes carbonisées et 40% de sciure de bois carbonisée (BPC60). Ces combustibles ont été caractérisés en déterminant la quantité de chaleur dégagée, la durée de combustion, le temps d’ébullition, le niveau de dégagement de fumée, la masse de suie après combustion et le taux de cendres. Les valeurs obtenues pour ces paramètres ont été comparées à celles du charbon de bois. Il ressort que les quantités de chaleur dégagées par PCFNC (963 KJ) et PCSNC (943 kJ) sont relativement proches de celle (1122 kJ) du charbon de bois. Pour la durée de combustion, ce sont les briquettes et le charbon de bois témoin qui mettent plus de temps à se consumer (60 minutes, environ). Le temps le plus court d’ébullition de l’eau est obtenu avec BPC100 (10,98 minutes contre 15,45 minutes pour le charbon de bois). Les combustibles à base de pommes de cajou ont tous dégagé de la fumée et ont favorisé un dépôt de suie après la combustion contrairement au charbon de bois. Au niveau de la cendre, BPC60 et BPC70 ont produit moins de cendre (10g) que le charbon de bois (12,5g). Au vu de ces résultats, si certaines caractéristiques de la pomme de cajou sont améliorées, sa valorisation énergétique est possible. This study intended to valorize the cashew apple or cashew nut into fuel. The material consists of cashew apples and sawdust, which allowed us to obtain 8 types of fuel. This includes dried cashew apples without carbonization (PCSNC), dried fermented cashew apples with carbonization (PCFSC), dried cashew apples with carbonization (PCSC), and briquettes with 100% carbonized apples and 0% sawdust with carbonization (BPC100), briquettes with 80% carbonized apples and 20% carbonized sawdust (BPC80), briquettes with 70% carbonized apples and 30% carbonized sawdust (BPC70), briquettes with 60% carbonized apples and 40% carbonized sawdust (BPC60). These fuels were characterized by determining the amount of released heat, combustion time, boiling time, level of smoke release, soot mass after combustion, and ash content. The values obtained for these parameters were compared with those of charcoal. The heat release of PCFNC (963 kJ) and PCSNC (943 kJ) is relatively close to that of charcoal (1122 kJ). The briquettes and the control charcoal take longer to burn (about 60 minutes, in terms of burning time. The shortest water boiling time was obtained with BPC100 (10.98 minutes versus 15.45 minutes for charcoal). Cashew apple fuels all gave off smoke and promoted soot deposition after combustion. This was not the same as charcoal’s case. Regarding ash generation, BPC60 and BPC70 produced less ash (10g) than charcoal (12.5g). Considering these results, if some characteristics of the cashew apple are improved, its energy valorization is possible.