Heavy Metal Ions Uptake Properties of the Aquatic Weed Hydrilla verticillata : Modeling and Experimental Validation

Abstract

Heavy metals are one of the prominent sources of pollution in industrial wastewater and excessive presence of these metals is causing severe health and environmental problems. The prevailing purification technologies used to remove these contaminants are costly and sometimes not eco-friendly, so industries often try to escape from their responsibilities that, in turn, creates severe problems for existence of life. There is a great need to put intense and expeditious efforts into the search for more feasible and effective technologies to mitigate this problem.Several aquatic weeds are capable of sorbing metal ions from their solution and could be utilized as one of the cheapest sources for the treatment of waste water. Our study deals with the characteristics of this sorption process for chromium, lead, zinc and iron with macrophyte Hydrilla verticillata. The data are mathematically modeled with statistical analysis. H. verticillata is found to have great efficiency in removing metal ions from the sample of water. The process is ecofriendly and if applied in an efficient manner, would prove to be the best method to tackle the problem growing metal ion pollution in water bodies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hn.v8i0.4902Hydro Nepal Issue No. 8, 2011 JanuaryPage: 19-23Uploaded date: 16 June, 2011