PHYTOREMEDIATION OF HEAVY METAL CONTAMINATED SOILS USING CANNA INDICA L. (MS Thesis)- Degree Awarded

Abstract:

Heavy metal pollution is a major environmental issue triggered by the discharge of heavy metal ions into the natural environment. Remediation is the process of cleaning up harmful heavy metal contaminated soils and one of the significant topics in environmental restoration. A cost-effective and eco-friendly technologies are needed to remove lead, cadmium, chromium from the contaminate soil environment. As a plant-based technology, phytoremediation is an environment-friendly technology that exploits the natural ability of a green plant to accumulate a variety of chemical elements and transport them from the substrate to above ground parts. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the potential of the Canna indica species to remove heavy metals from the soil. The aim of the present study was to assess the metal accumulation capacity of the selected plant species. The total accumulation was highest for chromium (51.82±0.09) mg/kg, followed by lead (36.84±0.06) mg/kg and cadmium (32.81±0.01) mg/kg in that order. The accumulation of lead was the highest in the stems (19.49 mg/kg) followed by leaves (8.96 mg/kg) and the roots (8.39 mg/kg). The accumulation of cadmium was the highest in the root (25.17 mg/kg) followed by leaves (2.46 mg/kg) and the stems (5.18 mg/kg). The accumulation of chromium was the highest in the stems (22.64 mg/kg) followed by leaves (7.77 mg/kg) and the roots (21.41 mg/kg). The results of this present study showed that the bioconcentration factor for lead was 3.93 and the translocation factor was 3.39, the bioconcentration factor for chromium was 3.45 and the translocation factor was 1.34, and the translocation factor for cadmium was 0.304 and the bioconcentration factor was 49.41. According to the bioconcentration factor and translocation factor (BCF>1 and TF>1) the plant species was used in Pb, Cr phytoextraction process. According to the bioconcentration factor and translocation factor (BCF>1 and TF>1) the plant species was used in Pb, Cr phytoextraction process. According to the bioconcentration factor and translocation factor (BCF>1 and TF<1) the plant species was used in Cd phytostabilization processes. Finally, the final results showed that Canna indica was a good accumulator of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and chromium (Cr).

• Supervision