Phytoremediation of Industrial Wastewater

Abstract

This paper aimed to determine the qualitative and quantitative effects of the phytoremediation process, for the treatment of wastewater. It was noticed that a locally growing aquatic Lemnaceae plant (Lemna minor L.) is very effective in improving the properties of the pond stagnant water by its decolorization effect in addition to the removal of unpleasant odour and the viscous form. The rate of decolorization of textile industrial wastewater was studied in the presence of this plant. It was noticed that sunlight was very effective for the phytoremediation process. The percentage of degradation exceeds 70% in the presence of sunlight in 20 days. The rate of degradation was found almost the same for the samples put in the dark, shadow and sunlight for the first five days and the percentages of degradation were 3.13, 3.33 and 3.5% per day, respectively. The rate of decolorization was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the maximum absorption at 230 and 615 nm.