Arsenic reduction from aqueous environment by water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.)

Arsenate uptake by aquatic plant water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) was studied in the laboratory condition to investigate a low cost natural aquatic treatment system for pollutant removal. The plants were harvested from a local pollution free pond in young condition and hydroponically cultured in the laboratory. Bioaccumulation was noticed to be both concentration and duration dependent. The results show that the plant could effectively abosrb arsenic between a range of 0.25 to 5.0 mg/l to the extent of 82.0 to 22.8% for a biomass of 20g/l at pH 7.0 after 144 hours. The results were also plotted in Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and the data were well fitted. The sorption capacity was evaluated as 1.43 mg/g for Langmuir isotherm and 1.01 mg/g for Freundlich isotherm. The removal efficiency was, however, noted to be maximum (87.5%) at pH 6.5. The effect of biomass quantity has also been investigated along with some metabolic parameters.