Abstract

MEDINA GARCIA, Leonida et al. Phytoremediation of chrome in tannery effluents using Eichhornia crassipes. Rep. cient. FACEN [online]. 2019, vol.10, n.1, pp.25-36. ISSN 2222-145X.  https://doi.org/10.18004/rcfacen.2019.10.1.25.

Chromium is one of the largest inorganic pollutants in water and soil in Paraguay, causing serious environmental problems. This metal comes mainly from tannery effluents that are dumped into water courses. The aim of this work was to use alternative remediation techniques for the treatment of waters with high chromium content, using natural media (plants), in a process called phytoremediation. Specimens of Eicchornia crassipes were subjected to controlled contamination with Cr3+ for 20 days and the maximum tolerated concentration during the whole period of the experiment was considered to study the cup and the absorption capacity of Cr3+ from the species. The kinetic constants of this process were: constant absorption: Kab= 0.10 days -1, and absorption half time: t= 6.8 dys. In the final tannery effluent with 22.4 mg.L-1 of Cr3+, at 48 hours there was almost complete absorption of the chromium supplied, leaving 1.28 mg.L-1 of chromium in the effluent. The chromium translocation factors for E. crassipes were 0.008 and 0.02 in well water and effluent respectively and bioaccumulation factors were 11.6 and 3.2 respectively. No significant differences were found between the chlorophyll content in the plants exposed in chromium solution compared to the control. Neither was oxidation found from Cr3+ to Cr6+ spectrophotometrically measured.

Keywords : Phytoremediation; chrome tannery effluent; Eichhornia crassipes.

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