Phytoremediation of Mine Acid Water Using Aquatic Plants

One of the impacts resulting from mining process is the occurrence of AMD (Acid Mine Drainage), which is rainwater or groundwater mixed with rock. AMD contains specific sulfides in coal, leading to highly acidic water with elevated concentrations of iron and manganese. Furthermore, phytoremediation offers a method to enhance specific contaminant levels in various environmental mediums, including soil, sediment, dirt or sludge, groundwater, and surface water. This waste treatment approach employs readily applicable, efficient, and effective plant species, such as burhead or Amazon sword, Melati air (Echinodorus palaefolius), Water hyacinth or eceng gondok (Eichhornia crassipes), and globe fimbry or Mendong (Fimbritylis globulosa) which are aquatic plants in South Sumatra with the capacity to absorb heavy metals. Therefore, this study aims to measure the growth response of each aquatic plant (Echinodorus palaefolius, Eichhornia crassipes, and Fimbritylis globulosa) in each treatment. It also analyzes the amount of heavy metal uptake in the form of Fe and Mn by each aquatic plant (Eichhornia crassipes, Echinodorus palaefolius, and Fimbritylis globulosa) used. Additionally, it investigates the ability of these plants to facilitate the phytoremediation of AMD using compost derived from OPEFB (Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches) to reduce the presence of Fe and Mn elements. The study employs a bioreactor and encompasses two treatment factors, namely the type of aquatic plants (Echinodorus palaefolius, Eichhornia crassipes, and Fimbritylis globulosa) and the composition comparison between OPEFB compost and limestone. The result shows that the combination of treatments in terms of plant types and media composition yields the highest growth, with a weight of 286.25 g in T2K1 treatment. This involves Eceng gondok and a media composition of compost to limestone in a ratio of 50% to 50%. Moreover, Mendong exhibits the highest absorption of Fe metal, with a value of 0.82 g, followed by Eceng gondok with 0.55 g, while Melati displays the lowest at 0.38 g. Regarding the absorption of Mn, Eceng gondok demonstrates the highest uptake, measuring 0.36 g, followed by Melati and Mendong at 0.11 g and 0.06 g, respectively.