Phytoremediation of Copper and Zinc Contaminated Soil around Textile Industries using Bryophyllum pinnatum Plant

Abstract

Phytoremediation is an acceptable, economical, and eco-friendly way to remediate the metal contaminated soils beside the industrial zone. Like other industries, the textile industries generate the effluent containing several types of pollutants such as metal conjugated dyes, several inorganic and organic substances, etc. When discharged to the environment, metals - specifically heavy metals - exert an adverse impact on soil and other biotas through the food chain. In this study, Bryophyllum pinnatum was used for phytoremediation in the contaminated soil sample collected from the area located around textile industries in Kaliakair, Bangladesh. The experiment was carried out by ex-situ in earthen pots. The concentration of six heavy metals including Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb, and Cd was analyzed before applying phytoremediation. Two heavy metals, Cu (28.57 µg/g) and Zn (143.88 µg/g) were found and others were not detected in that soil. After planting of Bryophyllum pinnatum, the concentrations of Cu and Zn in the contaminated soil were analyzed at three intervals of 45 days (S3), 90 days (S4), and 135 days (S5) in three replications. The experiment revealed that there was a decline in the concentration of Cu in soil (27.08 µg/g for 45 days and 13.19 µg/g for 90 days) except for the 3rd replication of 135 days (S5). However, the concentration of Zn (mean 103.09 µg/g) in soil was measured at 45 days and then remained within nearer values of concentration for other replications. The amounts of heavy metals uptake for both Cu and Zn by plants can be presented as leaves> stem >root which indicated that heavy metals were transferred from root to shoot over time. Bryophyllum pinnatum can, therefore, be considered as a good hyperaccumulator plant having BCF>1 and TF>1 values as well as possessing a better capacity of phytoextraction of metals.