Heavy metal determination and aquatic toxicity evaluation of textile dyes and effluents using Artemia salina

Abstract

Abstract The present study was aimed to evaluate the presence of harmful heavy metals in textile dyes and selected textile effluents. Physicochemical parameters are the significant alarming signs of water pollution. The textile waters analyzed in the study showed elevated TSS, were samples DU1 and DU3 was recorded with 196 mg/L and 584 mg/L, which is considerably high than the permitted limit. The dyes and effluents were characterized by the presence of predominant heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, lead, arsenic, and zinc. Phytotoxicity analysis indicated all reactive dyes had less significance effect on seed germination and also affects the chlorophyll content which directly signifies the toxic effect of dyes, whereas all four effluents showed restricted germination of seeds and also a significant reduction in chlorophyll content. Hemolytic assay implied Reactive Orange was the most toxic with 90% of RBC lysis, where effluents DU1 and DU2 showed a total RBC lysis of around 87%. Artemia salina was used to determine LC50 values of reactive dyes and textile effluents. The LC50 values of the reactive dyes signified Reactive Orange as the most toxic dye with 1.7 μg/mL of dye and among effluents DU1 exhibited higher toxicity with LC50 of 15%. The study concludes that reactive dyes and textile effluents have intolerable traces of harmful heavy metals, where seed germination and hemolytic assay signified toxic effect dyes and textile effluents. Artemia salina served as an excellent model for assessment aquatic toxicity of textile dyes and dye-containing effluents.