Application Of Water Hyacinth Research Articles

Investigation of the Desalination Capacity of Activated Carbon Materials from Water Hyacinth (<i>Eichhornia crassipes</i>) Stems

To reduce the hazards brought by water hyacinth, many applications of water hyacinth have been studied and continuously expanded. The large biomass of water hyacinth is applied in many fields such as for wastewater treatment, wastewater purification, biological raw material sources, animal feed production, medicine, antioxidants, agriculture, and household appliances. This research investigates the desalination capacity of freshwater hyacinths, raw materials from water hyacinths, biochar, and activated carbon materials from water hyacinth stems. Results have shown that the suitable temperature for charring fresh water hyacinth is 420 °C. The activated carbon from the water hyacinth stems with a BET surface area of 200.4 ± 1.9 m²/g can be desalinated under the conditions of 0.4 g of activated carbon mass, 15 min of reaction time, 2.0 ppt of salt concentration, and at neutral pH. In contrast, raw materials from water hyacinths and biochar were unable to desalinate. This study evaluates the desalination ability of the activated carbon material of water hyacinth.

Effects of Organic Substrate Amendments on Selected Organic Fractions and Biochemical Parameters under Different Soils.

The application of organic substrates can affect soil respiration, dehydrogenase (DH-ase) activity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and humic acid (HA) fractions. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of five organic substrates in the organic fractions of degraded alluvial soil, acid sulfate soil, and sandy soils and the physicochemical properties of the soil. Soil samples were amended at a rate of 5 tons ha-1 with (1) water hyacinth compost, (2) sugarcane filter cake compost, (3) biogas sludge-rice straw compost, (4) vermicompost, and (5) sludge. The results showed that soil respiration and DH-ase activity increased rapidly within the first 5 days of incubation, while the concentrations of DOC and HA decreased throughout the incubation period. The highest respiration and DH-ase activity occurred after the application of vermicompost. DOC was found to be the highest in soils amended with sugarcane. The highest concentration of HA was observed with the application of sugarcane residues, regardless of the type of soil. The application of water hyacinth and biogas sludge stimulated cumulative HA only in the acid sulfate soil, while vermicompost improved HA only in the degraded soil. The largest stimulation in respiration and DH-ase activity was observed in degraded and sandy soils, regardless of the type of amendment. In the acid sulfate soil (3.7 mg·C·g-1), larger amounts of DOC and HA were observed than in both degraded (1.7 mg·C·g-1) and sandy soils (1 mg·C·g-1). However, DH-ase activity was the lowest in acid sulfate soil.

Application of Water Hyacinth in Phytoremediation of Wastewater

Wastewater is any water source that a human has used for domestic, agricultural, commercial, or industrial activity. Wastewater needs to be treated before being discharged into the environment to reduce contamination of water bodies. The wastewater treatment must follow the Environmental Quality (Sewage) Regulations, 2009. Rivers in Malaysia continue to suffer wastewater pollution from the inefficiency of treatment. Wastewater has been recognized as the significant cause of these issues. Many physical, chemical, and biological techniques have evolved for sewage treatment. It has been observed that biological procedures are advantageous, and one of these procedures that can be considered is phytoremediation. Thus, this study investigated the effectiveness of water hyacinths in treating wastewater, such as the effluent from the wastewater treatment plant, river, and pond in Pusat Asasi, UiTM Dengkil, Selangor, by phytoremediation. Different parameters of pH, suspended solids, phosphorus, ammonia-nitrogen, nitrite-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand and biological oxygen demand have been assessed. The research has been conducted with experimental works of 14 days. The laboratory works showed a significant reduction in most parameters after two weeks of phytoremediation.

A combination of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and coffee grounds as a growth substrate for use in arid areas

There is a strict requirement to reduce the environmental impact of the water hyacinth and coffee grounds and an urgency to find solutions to boost farming in arid regions. In this experiment, growth substrates containing different ratios of water hyacinth and coffee grounds were used to support potted flower growth to evaluate their effectiveness as soil replacements. Two substrates were prepared by the combination of water hyacinth and coffee grounds ratios of 50:50 and 70:30, and then their physicochemical properties were measured. The growth, biomass production, and micro and macroscopic nutrient uptake of cockscomb flower (Celosia argentea var. cristata) were also determined. The findings suggest that the addition of organic raw materials improved phytonutrients and increased substrate pH and electrical conductivity (EC) of growing medium. The experimental growth substrates did not negatively affect plant growth. Overall, the results have shown that the application of water hyacinth and coffee grounds in growth substrates reduces their negative impact on the environment and increases the amount of arable land in arid, water-scarce areas with poor soil quality.

Improvement of Combustion Quality of Biomass Briquette from Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) for Alternative Energy

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a floating plant species, which spreads rapidly in fresh water area. This plant has found to cause environmental problems, such as clogging drainage, water intakes, and ditches, shading out other aquatic vegetation and interfering with fishing, shipping as well as recreational activities. In contrast to its drawbacks, water hyacinth is considered as one of the potential agricultural wastes in Indonesia that can be processed into an alternative solid fuel. Carbonization followed by briquetting is one of the methods that can be applied to process biomass into solid fuels. This work investigated the effect of carbonization temperature and two different types of binders on combustion characteristic of water hyacinth biomass. In this work, carbonization was carried out at three different temperatures, i.e. 350oC, 400oC and 450oC, while comparing the application of two types of binders, which were tapioca gel and polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) adhesive. The results showed that carbonization process of water hyacinth increased the fixed carbon content and the calorific value, and the best result was obtained at 450oC with tapioca gel as the binder. With this condition, the fixed carbon content in the biomass briquette could be increased up to 34.14% with a calorific value of 3,837 kcal/kg. Although the combustion efficiency was only 4.89%. The application of water hyacinth as biomass briquette has shown a promising alternative to reduce CO emission and the above-mentioned environment problems.

Water Hyacinth: A Unique Source for Sustainable Materials and Products

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a weed ubiquitously found in lakes, rivers, and other water bodies across the globe. With high rates of regeneration, survival, and growth, it is generally difficult to clear water bodies infested with water hyacinth. However, these features of water hyacinth can be considered as advantageous. Researchers have attempted to use hyacinth as an absorbent for heavy metals, water pollutants, and others. Although a large number of studies have been done on using the stems and leaves of water hyacinth as absorbent, there are several interesting and novel applications of water hyacinth. For example, water hyacinth has been demonstrated to be useful to develop supercapacitors, for production of ethanol, and to improve the immune resistance of plants and animals. In this review, we provide an opportunity for readers to realize the unique nature of water hyacinth and its potential to be used to develop products for various applications.

Application of Water Hyacinth as a Benign Solid Phase Extractor for Selective Removal of Cr(VI) from Natural Water Samples: Equilibrium, Isotherm and Kinetics Studies

Application of Water Hyacinth as a Benign Solid Phase Extractor for Selective Removal of Cr(VI) from Natural Water Samples: Equilibrium, Isotherm and Kinetics Studies

Secondary Metabolites of Eichhornia crassipes (Waterhyacinth): A Review (1949 to 2011)

Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms (Waterhyacinth), an aquatic perennial herb present throughout the world, has a myriad of metabolites. Phenalenone compounds and sterols have been isolated from this plant. Extracts, as well as pure compounds isolated from this plant, have been demonstrated to possess pharmacological activities. An account of the phytochemistry, pharmacological activities and several applications ofwaterhyacinth are included in this review.

USE OF WATER HYACINTH (Eichornia crassipes) IN AMELIORATION OF A SANDY SOIL

Soil fertility management is a key issue for sustaining agricultural production in dry lands. Organic resources are important for nutrient avail-ability and maintenance of soil organic matter. Sustaining fertility of arid soils necessitates in-creasing inputs of organic residues. Two experi-ments with water hyacinth were carried out to monitor (in the first; field study with litter bags) decomposition and changes in N, P, K, Ca and Mg as influenced by method of application where, in the second (greenhouse study) short-term effect on some properties of a sandy soil and early estab-lishment of fodder sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). Results of the first experiment showed that resi-dues incorporated in the top 0-30cm soil depth had significantly (P≤0.01) increased loss of dry matter weight compared to surface application. Decom-position rate constants of surface and sub-surface application were 0.029% week-1 and 0.041% week-1, respectively. Potassium was the fastest nutrient released with 50% loss attained after the 2nd and 6th week from incorporation and surface application, respectively. Nitrogen, P, Ca, and Mg releases from water hyacinth incorporated in the sub-soil were significantly (P≤ range from 0.0001 to 0.008) high compared to surface application. Nutrients loss was in the order of K =Mg > P > N > Ca. However, results of the second experi-ment showed that incorporation of water hyacinth residues significantly (P ≤ 0.001) decreased pH (by about 27%) and hydraulic conductivity (by 40-46%). Also, cation exchange capacity and organic C were significantly increased by about 23 and 100%, respectively. The study concluded that ap-plication of water hyacinth could be one of the good alternatives for improving quality of arid soils.

Potential applications of water hyacinth for water, air recycling in closed systems

Russian space scientists have done much work on closed ecological life support systems (CELSS) using higher plants and algae both for recycling water and air and regeneration of food. Research in this country has been directed mostly towards physiochemical methods for recycling water and air. Development of CELSS using biological components such as aquatic vascular plants (water hyacinth) has recently been recommended. Use of water hyacinth in open systems for municipal wastewater treatment has been studied extensively along with its many other terrestrial uses (animal feed, source of fresh water through evapotranspiration, methane source, fertilizer and compost). After reviewing the research work in CELSS, controlled environment agriculture, and water hyacinth and its uses, potential applications of water hyacinth in closed ecological systems for water, air recycling are outlined.