Performance of Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) for Phytoremediation of Contaminated Water

Abstract

Abstract. In tolerance towards metal uptake, there is a need to evaluate the performance of vetiver grass for metal removal to reduce water impurity. This study was aimed to evaluate contaminant removal by vetiver grass at varying root length and plant density and determine the metal uptake in vetiver plant biomass. Pollutant uptake of vetiver grass was conducted in laboratory experiment and heavy metal analysis was done using acid digestion and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. Findings indicated that the removal of heavy metal was decreased in seven days of the experiment where iron shows the highest percentage (96%; 0.42 ppm) of removal due to iron is highly required for growth of vetiver grass. Removal rate of heavy metals in water by vetiver grass is ranked in the order of Fe>Zn>Pb>Mn>Cu. Results also demonstrated greater removal of heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn) at greater root length and higher density of vetiver grass because it increased the surface area for metal absorption by plant root into vetiver plant from contaminated water. However, findings indicated that accumulation of heavy metals in plant biomass was higher in vetiver shoot than in root due to metal translocation from root to the shoot. Therefore, the findings have shown effective performance of vetiver grass for metal removal in the phytoremediation of contaminated water.

Fabrication of potable and eco-friendly solar disinfection (sodis) unit and its performance analysis

“…The potential of vetiver grass in wastewater treatment was analysed by Maharajan and his team [26] and the results of the study showed that treating of waste water by vetiver grass can reduce the overall concentration of chloride nitrate total hardness and alkalinity by 42.90%, 93.93%, 46.4% and 22.2% respectively. It can also lower the parameters such as chloride, sulphate, calcium; magnesium and iron [26][27][28]. This could be the reason for the drastic change in the parameters of water after treatment.…”

Association of Plant and Microorganisms on Textile Wastewater Remediation

“…This manifested that Cr and Cu are generally retained in the roots. Metal uptake was higher in the root than in the leaf due to the plant root structure, which can form a high surface area and restrict heavy metal translocation from root to leaf [4,12].…”

“…The threshold levels of C. zizanioides are 5-18 mg kg -1 and 13-15 mg kg -1 of Cr and Cu respectively, while for other plants are 0.02-0.20mg kg -1 and 15 mg kg -1 . It involves a translocation process of the contaminants uptake by plants roots which act as phytoextraction [12].…”

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“…Verskeie outeurs, waaronder Truong & Creighton (1994), Truong (2002), en Vargas et al, (2016) het aangetoon dat C. zizanioides relatiewe hoë konsentrasies van swaarmetale soos chroom (Cr), koper (Cu), lood (Pb), kwik (Hg), nikkel (Ni), mangaan (Mn), sink (Zn) en yster (Fe), asook elemente soos arseen (As) in die blare en wortels kan akkumuleer. Roongtanakiat et al, (2007), Chen et al, (2011) en Hasan et al, (2017) het C. zizanioides aan oppervlakwater wat met verskillende konsentrasies metale gekontamineer was, blootgestel om vas te stel watter metale die plant effektief kan opneem. Hieruit was dit duidelik dat die oorgrote meerderheid van die metale in die wortels akkumuleer en dat veral Pb, Fe, Mn and Zn in relatiewe hoë konsentrasies in die wortels teenwoordig was (Hasan et al, 2017;Antiochia et al, 2007;Roongtanakiat et al, 2007).…”

“…Roongtanakiat et al, (2007), Chen et al, (2011) en Hasan et al, (2017) het C. zizanioides aan oppervlakwater wat met verskillende konsentrasies metale gekontamineer was, blootgestel om vas te stel watter metale die plant effektief kan opneem. Hieruit was dit duidelik dat die oorgrote meerderheid van die metale in die wortels akkumuleer en dat veral Pb, Fe, Mn and Zn in relatiewe hoë konsentrasies in die wortels teenwoordig was (Hasan et al, 2017;Antiochia et al, 2007;Roongtanakiat et al, 2007).…”