Abstract
Organic pollutants, such as dyes, have a negative effect on the aqueous environment, therefore, their elimination from water bodies is a high priority. In this work, Eichhornia crassipes and Salvinia natans, both model plants with high phytoremediation efficiency, were exposed to various concentrations (Ci = 50–500 mg/L) of Eriochrome Black T (EBT). Their capacity to assimilate EBT was studied for 16 days of exposure, similar to natural conditions and by spectrophotometric monitoring of the dye concentration (EE. crassipes; 150 mg/L = 33%; ES. natans; 150 mg/L = 71.5%). The changes of the experimental parameters (pH—equalised by day 5, temperature, humidity, light intensity) were followed, and plant growth and biochemical responses to toxic stress effects (photosynthetic pigments, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)—decreased effect of P, Mg, Ca, S and K, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), defense enzyme) were examined. Furthermore, changes in oxidative- and photo-degradation of EBT in time and the solid-state properties (SEM, EDX, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy-FTIR) of the dye were investigated. Our results demonstrate that, despite the toxic stress, both species succeeded in reducing the dye-concentration of the water and S. natans proved to be more efficient in binding and removing organic dyes. With our findings, we proved that both plants alleviated the abiotic stress of dye contamination.
Highlights
The textile industry is one of the most water-consuming and polluting industries
The increasing demand for non-fading coloured textile dyes has led to excessive use of azo-dyes in cotton fabrics, which are discharged into the effluents, posing a severe health threat [1,2,3]
The removal of Eriochrome Black T (EBT) from wastewater is a prodigious task aiming to prevent damage to aquatic and human life. With this knowledge in mind, we investigated the structure of the dye, its removal from the aqueous medium by the phytoremediation method, and the stress effects on the used E. crassipes and S. natans plants
Summary
The textile industry is one of the most water-consuming and polluting industries. The increasing demand for non-fading coloured textile dyes has led to excessive use of azo-dyes (the most abundant colourant group, with over 3000 different varieties, which accounts for 60–70% of the dyes used in the textile industry) in cotton fabrics, which are discharged into the effluents, posing a severe health threat [1,2,3]. Even though several studies have discussed clean-up techniques designed for both Eichhornia crassipes (E. crassipes: water hyacinth (Mart.) Solms) and Salvinia natans (S. natans: floating fern (Linnaeus) Allioni) with different kinds of pollutants, to the best of our knowledge, only a few have attempted to address the removal and characterisation of EBT organic dye, to link the morphological, physiological (biochemical) responses, and to study the changes induced by abiotic stress condition caused by the highly toxic EBT dye. Taking into account the aspects mentioned above, in the present research, we search for a viable and effective solution for removing EBT dye from aqueous solution using the phytoremediation ability of two model plants compared with the (photo)degradation efficiencies of a commercial TiO2 -based photocatalyst (P25). Regarding the novelty of the present research, it can be emhpasised that it covers a niche in solid-state dye characterisation, offering different pathways (photocatalytic processes and phytoremediation) for the efficient removal of this pollutant from the water, focusing on the ecotoxicological effect on the seedlings
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