BIOSORPTIVE REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS FROM WASTEWATER USING DUCKWEED

Abstract

Water pollution has been recognized as a problem for decades. The use of heavy metals in industries and their regular mining increases their concentration in water bodies. Unlike organic compounds, metals cannot degrade, and therefore effective cleanup requires their immobilization to reduce or remove toxicity. A few conventional methods employed to remove heavy metals from wastewater are expensive, require skilled labors and maintenance. Therefore, the use of aquatic plants has come up since the last few decades. Duckweed is one
such plant employed as a biosorbent and has been considered a better alternative than any other aquatic plant because of high tolerance to cold than water hyacinth, more easily
harvested than algae, capable of rapid growth (0.1 to 0.5 g g-1 day-1) and small size of plant. This study aims to determine the suitability of this plant for biosorbing toxic heavy metals
commonly found in industrial wastewater, domestic wastewater, and seepage water.