Phytoremediation of Nickel, Lead and Manganese in Simulated Waste Water Using Algae, Water Hyacint and Water Lettuce

The increase in industrial and artisanal mining and mineral processing activities has led to a surge in the quantity of hazardous materials, typically heavy metals that are released into the environment. These hazard materials, when discharge in water bodies, poses serious risk to humans, animals and environment. Phytoremediation is one of the cost effective methods use in the removal of these pollutants from environment. Several plants have been investigated for their phytoremediating potentials. In this paper, the phytoremediation potential of algae, water hyacinth and water lettuce for the removal of Ni, Pb, and Mn was demonstrated. Plants of equal size were grown in aqueous medium and supplemented with different concentration (1.0 mg/dm3, 3.0 mg/dm3 and 5.0 mg/dm3) of multi component metal solution for 15 consecutive days. All the plants revealed a very good accumulation potential, with the accumulation of metals shown to increase with an increase in the initial concentration of the metal solution. At all levels, the plants accumulated the metals more in the root than in shoot except for Mn in water hyacinth. The result showed that water hyacinth was able to accumulate Pb better, while water lettuce showed more preference for Ni and Mn. All the three plants can be used in remediating waste water. Hence, water hyacinth, water lettuce and algae are a promising biomass for phytoremediation.