ReviewPerspectives of phytoremediation using water hyacinth for removal of heavy metals, organic and inorganic pollutants in wastewater
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Eichhornia crassipes also known as water hyacinth has gained significant attention as aquatic plant which has the ability to absorb pollutants from aquatic environments with rapid proliferation. As attempts for controlling it has not been completely successful, the best management strategy is to find some usage for them (Patel, 2012). The most possible usage of water hyacinth includes making of animal fodder/fish feed (Aboud et al., 2005), biosorbent for the removal of toxic metals (Malik, 2007), production of biogas and bioethanol (Mshandete et al., 2004), compost (Szczeck, 1999), paper manufacturing (De Groote et al., 2003), also as phytoremediation agent (Sajn-Slak et al., 2005). In addition, Indian scientists have suggested many formulation of medicines using water hyacinth for treating diseases (Oudhia, 1999).
Moreover, after the removal of pollutants from waste water, water hyacinth can be used for recovering some of the toxic and non-degradable materials like heavy metals (Isarankura-Na-Ayudhya et al., 2007). The abilities of water hyacinth such as higher growth rate, pollutant absorption efficiency, low operation cost and renewability shows that using this plant it can be considered as a suitable technology for the treatment of wastewater. Malik (2007) reported that naturally water hyacinth create serious challenges in the filed of navigation, irrigation, and power generation. Therefore, inorder to avoid these problems using of phytoremediation technology must be carried out along with the controlling of water hyacinth. Mahamadi (2011) found that some of the aquatic plants like water hyacinth can also be used for the production of biofuels. This technology to produce biofuels can overcome both environmental pollution and the depletion of energy sources worldwide. Rezania et al. (2015) have reported that dried water hyacinth can used for manufacturing briquette, which is used for co-firing in coal power plant.
The main reason for releasing huge amount of wastewater into the environment is because of increase in population, urbanization and industrialization, which mainly constitutes organic matters and heavy metals (Lalevic et al., 2012). That is why a reliable technology is needed to treat wastewater before it is being released into the water bodies (Talaie et al., 2011a). Although, wastewater treatment technologies are often costly, they are not always environmental friendly (Dixit et al., 2011, Talaie et al., 2011b). Therefore, environmental friendly technologies have been gaining attention among the researchers worldwide. Many researchers have reported the application of phytoremediation techniques for treating different types of wastewater. Water hyacinth, water lettuce and vetiver grass are plants that have been used for the removal of wide range of pollutants, which includes biochemical oxygen demand, heavy metals, total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, dissolved solids, nitrogen and phosphorous removal (Gupta et al., 2012). The different applications of water hyacinth have been illustrated in (Fig. 1).
Recently, only few review papers related to wastewater treatment using water hyacinth have been published (Mahamadi, 2011, Patel, 2012, Gupta et al., 2012, Rezania et al., 2015). Mostly this review emphasize the most recent studies during the past five years for the uptake and removal of organic, inorganic and heavy metal present in waster water using water hyacinth to make it as a suitable, inexpensive, effective and environmental friendly technology for treating wastewater. The main focus of this review is to compare how water hyacinth is effective in the removal of pollutants from waste water in comparision to other aquatic plants and to provide insight for the development and new emerging technologies of phytoremediation.
Section snippets
Water hyacinth
For many centuries water hyacinth has been applied as an ornamental crop due to its attractive appearance by humans. Water hyacinth was also introduced as the invasive and free-floating aquatic macrophyte by many botanists (Gopal, 1987). It is a member of the family Pontederiaceae which is indigenous to Brazil, the Amazon basin and Ecuador region (Tellez et al., 2008). The growth of this plant on the surface of water can reduce the penetration of sunlight into the water. Sunlight is vital for
Application of aquatic plants in wastewater treatment for the removal of pollutants
Wastewater is a mixture of pure water with large number of chemicals (including organic and inorganic) and heavy metals which can be produced from domestic, industrial and commercial activities, in addition to storm water, surface water and ground water (Dixit et al., 2011). Due to the danger of the entry of chemicals into wastewater it must be treated before the final disposal. Many physical, chemical and biological methods have been developed for the treatment of wastewater. It is reported
Control of water hyacinth growth
Many studies have shown that mechanical, chemical and biological methods can be applied to eradicate water hyacinth but all these methods are only partially successful (Shabana and Mohamed, 2005, Zhang et al., 2005). Biological control of E. crassipes has been conducted in many parts of the world and the ways of controlling the growth of water hyacinth has been addressed by several researchers (Koutika and Rainey, 2015). Water hyacinth, the worst aquatic weed was found to be nearly impossible
Future perspectives of phytotechnology/phytoremediation in pollution control
Phytoremediation is a moderately late innovation and is seen as practical, proficient, novel, eco-friendly technology, still in its initial improvement stages and full scale applications are still constrained. Numerous plants like Eichhornia crassipes have been reported to be as a particulate contamination phytoremediator (Rai and Panda, 2014). In this manner, the usage of intrusive plants in pollutant reduction phytotechnologies may help with their practical application (Rai, 2015). Also, the
conclusion
This paper has shown the different possibilities of using water hyacinth for the removal of pollutants present in waste water. Water hyacinth is found to be suitable for controlling the urban and different types of waste water coming from the industry. It is also demonstrated that among the aquatic plants, water hyacinth is a decent and viable possibility for nutrient uptake and improving the water quality. Water hyacinth can cause economic, environmental disaster and is difficult to control.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the support received from the JSPS Asian core program (ACP) governance group, Flagship Grant (Q.Ji30000.2517.10H25), GUP Grant (Q.ji30000.2409.02G41), COE Flagship Grant (Q.J130000.2422.02G75) received support from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The authors also would like to thank Prof. Kenzo Iwao, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Japan for his valuable comments to improve the manuscript.
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