Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals from Urban Waste Leachate by Southern Cattail (Typha domingensis)

Abstract

The effectiveness of southern cattail (Typha domingensis) for phytoremediation of heavy metals from municipal waste leachate was investigated. Some plants were transplanted into pots containing 10 liters of mixed urban waste leachate and water (3/1 V: V) and aerated during experiments. Central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were used in order to clarify the nature of the response surface in the experimental design and explain the optimal conditions of the independent variables. In the optimum conditions, the amount of removed Pb, Ni and Cd were 0.9725, 0.4681, and 0.3692 mg/kg, and Translocation Factor (TF) in 24, 48 and 72 h experiment were 1, 1.07, 1.00, 1.11, 1.32, 1.00, 1.5 1.20 and 1.02 for each heavy metal (Pb, Ni, and Cd) respectively. The findings show that Typha domingensis is an effective accumulator plant for phytoremediation of these heavy metals.