Water treatment

Phytoremediation of Methylene Blue and Methyl orange using

Eichhornia Crassipes (Water Hyacinth) (Tan et al.,2016)
Introduction
• Effluents from industries such as textile, plastic, paper and rubber
contains dyes which give colour to water bodies.
• Some of these dyes are toxic and carcinogenic in nature.
• MB is a basic dye and can have various harmful effects. High conc of
MB contact with eye can damage cornea. Doses in range of 500mg
can lead to anemia, dizziness, hedache, abdominal pain , mental
confusion, etc.
• MO is a azo dye and are most versatile and largest group of dye. They
are considered to be toxic and mutagenic to living organisms.
• Phytoremediation is the direct use of living green plants for in situ, or in place,
removal, degradation, or containment of contaminants in soils, sludges, sediments,
surface water and groundwater.
• It has lot of advantages such as cost-effectiveness, aesthetic advantages, long term
applicability. In addition plants offer protection against wind and water erosion,
and preventing contaminents from spreading.
• Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia Crassipes)
It is a free floating aquatic plants that originated from tropical South America and
now is widespread in all tropical climates. It is one of the most productive plants,
and sue to its high growth rate it has high tolerance to pollution .
FIG: WATER HYACINTH (EICHHORNIA CRASSIPES)
Methodology

• Preliminary study
All plants were washed and then grown in a basins using tap water for
one week to adapt new environment conditions.
After one week plants were introduced to 6L of MB and 6L of MO with
different concentrations(50mg/L, 100mg/L, 150mg/L, 200mg/L) for 7
days, to determine the most effective concentration of colour removal.
• Experimental Study
plants were wiped dry to remove excess water ,which almost weighted
between 210 to 240g and height of 15-20cm and were put into basin of
6L of 50mg/L of MB and 50mg/L of MO.
Plants were left to grow for 20 days and any decrease in volume of
solution in basin was added with deionised water to maintain 6L of
solution.
Absorbance was calculated using Spectrophotometer HACH, DR
2400/2500
Percentage of dye removal = C0-Cf/Cf*100
And
Relative Growth rate (day-1)= (lnw2-lnw1)/t
• Plant Cells Analysis
The light microscope was used to observe the plant cells(leaf, Shoot,
and root) before and after exposure to dyes.
Samples were prepared by cutting very thin slice ofcell of plants and
then examined using microscope with 40x magnification.
Results
• Variation of pH

FIG: pH variations of MB FIG: pH variation of MO

• Colour Removal of MB and MO
It was concludes that colour removal of MB is higher than MO which is
98.42% and 66.80% respectively. This is because MO has higher
molecular weight and contains azo bond as compared to MB.
• Plant cell analysis
• The leaf structure of water hyacinth (a) before, (b) after exposure to
MB and (c) after exposure to MO for 20 days.
• The shoot structure of water hyacinth (a) before, (b) after exposure to
MB and (c) after exposure to MO for 20 days.
• The root cell structure of water hyacinth (a) before, (b) after exposure
to MB and (c) after exposure to MO for 20 days.
• Relative growth rate of Water hyacinth

• Average length of water Hyacinth after 20 days.

Conclusions
• Based on results obtained, the % of colour removal of MB is 98.42%
and MO s 66.80%.
• The pH varied throughout the experiment this is due to free diffusion
of CO2with the atmosphere and the uptake of nutrients by the plants.
• The relative growth rate was 0.02 days-1 and 0.03 days-1.this shows
that the plant can grow in contaminated solution.