Phytoremediation of Zinc, Cadmium, Copper and Chrome from Industrial Wastewater by Eichhornia Crassipes

Eichhornia crassipes was tested for its high capacity to bioconcentrate four heavy metals (Zn, Cd, Cu, and Cr) commonly found in wastewater from industries. Young plants of equal size were cultured in plastic tub containing industrial wastewater. Therefore, control experimental sets contained only mining effluent without any plants. The digested samples were analyzed for four metals (Zn, Cu, Cd and Cr) by a Perkin Elmer 3000DV Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometer (ICP-AES). Eichhornia crassipes removed appreciable amount of heavy metals during a 15 days experiment. Maximum removal of metals was recorded on the 10th day of exposure. Roots of Eichhornia crassipes proved better accumulator of the metals than leaves. Eichhornia crassipes can be used to serve as a phytoremediation plant in the cleaning up of Zn, Cd, Cu and Cr from industrial wastewater.