International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Phytoremediation is defined as the use of plants and their associated microorganisms to remove harmless pollutants from contaminated sites. It is a promising approach in the treatment of dye wastewater due its cost-effectiveness. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) in removing color. Water hyacinth was used to treat 50 mg/L of methylene blue (MB) and 50 mg/L of methyl orange (MO) for 20 days under ambient temperature (30±1 °C). The pH of the synthetic dye wastewater was observed throughout 20 days. Results obtained showed that percentage of color removal was higher for MB compared to MO which were 98.42% and 66.80% respectively. The relative growth of Eichhornia crassipes in MB and MO were also being determined. The cell structure of Eichhornia crassipes (leaf, shoot and root) before and after the plants were exposed to dye wastewater was analysed using light microscope.

Index Terms—Eichhonia crassipes, methylene blue, methyl orange, phytoremediation.

The authors are with University Sains Malaysia, Environmental Technology Division, Penang, 11800 Malaysia (e-mail: kangxihuangti@hotmail.com, nhashima@usm.my, jieqi_ooi@hotmail.com).

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Cite: Kah Aik Tan, Norhashimah Morad, and Jie Qi Ooi, "Phytoremediation of Methylene Blue and Methyl Orange Using Eichhornia crassipes," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 724-728, 2016.