REMEDIATION OF CONTAMINATED SOIL USING SELECTED WEED

PLANTS
ABSTRACT

Increased needs of population create pollution by generating solid waste from the industries,

oil refining factories, thermal power plants, and creating different products. In India and

certain other developing countries industries dump waste without any proper treatment

resulting in the contamination of soils with heavy metals like Cd, Pb, Hg and Zn etc.

Phytoremediation is one of the effective methods for remediating contaminated soils. The

soils contaminated are made free from contaminants by this process and also heavy metals

can be extracted and reused. Mostly, hyperaccumulator plant species are thought to be good

remediators of metal ions, some are already been identified and are used for this process, but

the best is still to be identified. Still there are so many plants yet to be tested for their

phytoremediation capability. In the current study, Cassia Auriculata, Achyranthes aspera and

Helianthus annus were used for remediation of metals from the contaminated soil in the

laboratory condition. Before sowing the seeds of above plants, a representative soil was

collected and evaluated its characteristics in laboratory. Also, pH and conductivity of soil was

tested for a better understanding. Pot studies were performed for understanding the

phytoextraction capabilities of each plant. Different plant species have different capacities of

remediating metals. A comparison of Phytoremediation of these three plants was made.

Phytoremediation is considered to be a most economical technique for large site areas with a

lower depth of contamination of soil. The results obtained from the study will be applied to

large-scale remediation of contaminated soils.

Keywords:- Hyperaccumulator plants, Phytoextraction, Soil contamination,

Phytoremediation.
INTRODUCTION

Phytoremediation is a natural process carried out by plants and trees in the cleaning up and

stabilization of contaminated soils and groundwater. It is a generic term for several ways in

which plants can be used for this purpose. It is characterized by the use of vegetive species for

the in-site treatment of land areas polluted by a variety of hazardous substances.

Bioremediation through the use of plants that mitigate the environmental problem without the

need to excavate the contaminant material and dispose of it elsewhere.

Only selected plants known as hyperaccumulators are employed in phytoremediation; no

other plants can be used. Plants that can accumulate heavy metals from soil, water, and air are

known as hyperaccumulators.

The idea of employing plants to clean up the environment is not a new one. Plants were

proposed for use in the treatment of waste water some 300 years ago (Hartman, 1975). Then it

was discovered that the plant species Thalpsicaerulescenes and viola calaminiaria

accumulated large quantities of metals in their leaves (Baumanm, 1885). Despite following

claims claiming the discovery of Co, Cu, and Mn hyper accumulators, the presence of plants

hyperaccumulating metals other than Cd, Ni, Se, and Zn has been called into question, and

more evidence is needed (Salt et al., 1995). (Utsunamiya, 1980) and (Chaney, 1983)

reintroduced and developed the notion of utilising plants to remove metals from contaminated

soil, and the first field trial on Zn and Cd phytoextraction was done.

In some trials, phytoremediation was done with just one plant and one heavy metal, whereas

in others, multiple heavy metals were used with just one plant. Because there have been no

studies in the past that have reported Phytoremediation of contaminated soils in a shorter time,

experiments are being conducted in this study with plants such as sunflower (Helianthus
annuus), achyranthes aspera, and cassia auriculata, which can survive in contaminated soil,

grow faster, and remediate the contaminated soil.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

Selection of Soil And Characteristics Of The Soil

In the laboratory, low compressible clayey sand was chosen for the pot trials. Table 1 shows

the physical parameters of the soil used in the investigation. For calculating the following

physical properties, the Indian standard protocol was applied.

Spiking of the Soil

The chemicals containing metals such as lead, chromium, and cadmium are dissolved in water

and they should be added to the soil to make the soil contaminated. The contaminants are

added to 1kg of the soil as per the concentration mentioned in the second table.

Cassia Auriculata, Achyranthes aspera and Helianthus annus are placed in three different pots

for each type of plant in which each pot containing Lead, chromium and Cadmium.

In this step we have planted same plant in three different pots in which each pot consist of

individual metal like this we repeated for other two plants total 9 contaminated pots are there

and the three pots are planted in pure soil without any contamination and in remaining three

we mixed all metals and planted three different plants in it . Total 15 plants are selected for

the experiment and the dimensions of each pot are height – 30 cm , diameter-17cm.

Selection of Plant Species

Plants such as Helianthus annus, cassia auriculata, and achyranthes aspera were chosen to see

if they could take heavy metals from contaminated soils. Plant seeds are sown separately in

contaminated and control clean soil in the containers. In each container, about three seeds are

sown.

Setup and Monitoring of Pots

Pots were placed in a location that received direct sunshine throughout the day and were

watered on a daily basis. The plants are allowed to grow for 28 days while their development

is tracked. Plant heights are measured and documented every three days. At seven-day

intervals, soil samples were taken from the pots. The plants are removed from the soil and

rinsed with deionized water at the end of the 28th day. The plant weights are kept track of

and used to remove metals from the plant tissue.

Analytical Testing

Physical qualities of soil are tested, such as Atterberg's limits [IS 2720 (part 5)-1980] and

grain size analysis [IS 2720 (part 4) -1985]. Specific gravity [IS 2720 (part 3)-1980] was

calculated according to the standards. Standard Spectrophotometric methods were used to

determine heavy metal concentrations. Cadmium was determined using the Saltzman (1953)

and Ganoteset al. (1962) methods, lead was determined using Khan et al. (2006) method, and

chromium was determined using standard protocol (US EPA Method 7196A, 1992). Before

determining metals from soils, the soil was digested for 12 hours with 1M HNO3 to remove

the metal, as described by Mielke et al (Mielkeet al., 1983). Heavy metals are removed from

plants by digesting them with a di acid mixture (HNO3 and HClO4 in a 3:2 ratio) and then

filtering them.

Statistical Methods

All experiments are carried out in threes (three pots for each plant). The mean and standard

deviation of the remediation findings for three pots are calculated. Microsoft Excel 2010 is

used to provide a graphical representation of the results.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Effect of Contaminated Soil on Seed Germination and Plant Growth

Among three different plants we selected the only one plant have showed the germination

that is caussia auricullata in the contaminated soil the other two didn’t show any germination

in the contaminated soil . The caussia auricullata have shown very good phytoremediation

effect compare to other two plants .In the present study only one plant have showed the

germination hence we did test on those soil in which the germination of the plant is shown .

caussia auricullata have extracted the chemicals with very good results

Apart from contaminated soil the plants we planted in pure soil have shown some

germination among three helianthus doesn’t show any germination in any pot. The height are

recored for each of plant which have shown germination. The comparision of heights are

done in order to know the speed of germination. The height of germination in the

contaminated soil is less when compared to the height of germination in the controlled soil

for cassia aricullata

Phytoremediation Results

The results of phytoremediation with three different plants are shown in tables (Table 3,4 and

5). It is clearly evident that the heavy metal concentrations in soil are decreasing with

increase in plant growing time in cassia aricullata (Fig. 3). The phytoremediationresults of

cassia auricullata (Table 3 and Fig. 4) indicated that this plant remediates Chromium metal ,

cadmium metal moderately and lead to certain extent. When the comparison was performed

among the plants selected, maximum extent of phytoremediation was observed with cassia

auricullata. This plant showed remediation of the soil from the first week itself. The

phytoremediation by this plant was observed maximum in the second week and also fourth

week with regard to Chromium. In the case of Cadmium,phytoremediation is almost the same

in the periodic intervals of different weeks. The phytoremediation of Lead was observed

maximum in the third week with this plant. These results suggest that plant is able to
remediate the soil either in the second or third week of the plant growth. After the third week,

only cassia auricullata observed to be healthy and showed active growth .

Metal Ion Concentrations in the Phytoremediated Plant Tissues

The levels of metal ions in the entire tissue of the plants were measured after the fourth week

of Phytoremediation. Plants were digested, and the resulting samples were utilised to test

various metal ions. The plants were used to restore the missing metal ions from the soil

following phytoremediation . Chromium is recovered at percent, Cadmium at percent, and

Lead at percent from the cassia auricullata plant.

Since the other plants didn’t shown any germination there is no extraction of metals from

them.

CONCLUSIONS

Three different plants were employed in this investigation to see if they could successfully

phytoremediate polluted soils. Cassia auricullata, one of the three plants chosen, has

previously been documented to have the ability to phytoremediate polluted soils.

The other two plants were chosen for this investigation because of their rapid development

and tubular stem form. These plants did not fare as well in soil contaminated with heavy

metals at higher concentrations than cassia auricullata, but those that did displayed

phytoremediation. Helianthus anus has the lowest survival rate of the three plants studied, as

well as the lowest phytoremediation rate. The findings imply that, in addition to cassia

auricullata, additional plants that grow faster can be employed for phytoremediation. Metal
recovery from plant tissue samples is almost identical to the missing metal content in the soil

sample.

Because just three metal ions were used to pollute the soil in this study, more research with

other heavy metals usually found in contaminated soil is needed. The researchers assume that

the plants studied in this study could be tested further in contaminated areas to remove heavy

metals from soil, as this strategy of recognizing new plants for fast remediation of

contaminated soils has not been done before.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The published publication contains all of the data, models, and code developed or used

throughout the study.

REFERENCES

Figure Captions
Fig. 1 Comparison of germination of plants in controlled soil and contaminated soil

Fig. 2 Comparison of plant height in controlled soil and contaminated soil

Fig. 3 Phytoremediation of soil by Cassia auriculata different weeks

Fig. 4 Concentration of heavy metals in different phytoremediated plant tissues

Table 1. Properties of Soil used for the Experiments

Property Value
Water content (%) 5.29
Specific gravity 2.65
Liquid limit (%) 33.5
Plastic limit (%) 22
Plasticity index (%) 11.5
Clay(<0.002mm)(%) 12.932
Silt(0.002–0.075mm) (%) 15.333
Sand(0.075–4.75mm) (%) 70.294
Low compressiable
IS Classification
inorganic soil

Table 2. Heavy metal concentration in the soil

Heavy Metal Chemical Concentration (mg/kg)
Chromium (Cr) Chromium Chloride (CrCl2) 200
Cadmium(Cd) Cadmium Nitrate (CdNO3) 50
Lead (Pb) Lead Acetate [Pb (CH3COO)2] 500

Table 3. Phytoremediation of heavy metals by Cassia auriculata

Day of Mean ± SD
Sample Present in Soil (mg) Reduced in Soil (mg) Extracted by Plant (mg) % Extraction
Collection Cr Cd Pb Cr Cd Pb Cr Cd Pb Cr Cd Pb
0th 0 0 0 - - - - - -
7th - - - - - -
14th - - - - - -
21st - - - - - -
73.8
287. 40.7
595.81±8. 6 42.22±0. 61.72
28th 05 ± 6±
65 ±0.5 42 ±1
2.20 0.38
7
Note: SD =standard deviation.