Potential of Helianthus annuus for phytoremediation of cadmium from solutions

Subject Areas : Water Pollution

M. Emadi ¹ , R. Moogouei ² , M. Borghei ³

1 - Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch
2 - Islamic Azad University, Tehran North Branch
3 - Sharif University of Technology

Received: 2013-06-30 Accepted : 2013-10-08 Published : 2013-11-22

Keywords: Cadmium, Helianthus annuus, Solutions, Phytoremediatiom,

Abstract :

Phytoremediation is the use of members of different plant families to clean up orcontrol numerous kinds of pollutants, including heavy metals from marine andterrestrial environments. In this research, potential of Helianthus annuus L. plantspecies for remediation of Cd solution was tested. All experiments were designed inrandomized block (3 sample and one control) using phytoremediation technique withp>0.01 in statistics. Data were analyzed using SAS software package. Every flaxcontained three plants that exposed to two different concentrations of cadmiumnitrate solutions for a period of 15 days. Plants were incubated in 2 mgl-1 and 10 mgl-1 of cadmium nitrate solutions, and 70.53 ± 22.10 % and 92.26± 1.12 % Cadmiumions were removed from solution respectively. Uptake rate of Cadmium changedincreasingly with and increase in ion concentration of solutions. As heavy metalssuch as cadmium are main environmental pollutants and can create toxic effects onliving organisms, phytoremediation can be counted as an environmental friendlytechnique for waste waters remediation. The main aim of this research wasinvestigation on potential of Helianthus annuus L. for phytoremediation of Cdsolution. As a result Helianthus annuus L. plants can be used as a potential candidatefor phytoremediation of cadmium polluted solutions.