Effective nutrient removal using nutrient film technique hydroponics unit under varying nitrate nitrogen concentrations

Abstract

Surface and groundwater are both susceptible to nitrate nitrogen contamination that has emerged as an issue around the globe in past few years. The main goal of this research was to treat nitrate‐contaminated water through phytoremediation in a hydroponic system with reduced cost and also assess the root and shoot growth of plants cultivated in NFT hydroponic systems. Four different nitrate‐nitrogen concentrations (30, 60, 90, and 120 mg/L) were given to hydroponic treatment unit. The results revealed that shoot growth, root growth, leaf number, and shoot numbers were increased with increasing nutrient solution concentration. The study's findings demonstrated that the average elimination efficiencies of nitrate‐nitrogen varied from 44.5% to 88% for money plants, 30.77% to 80.66% for crotons, 42.56% to 86% for arrowhead plants, 32.03% to 72.25% for vetiver grass, 28.08% to 70% for spinach, and 38.11% to 75.5% for brinjal plants, respectively. Thus, hydroponic phytoremediation has emerged as the environmental and cost‐effective technique for diminishing and removing nitrate nitrogen from wastewater.