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Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) - an efficient and economic adsorbent

for textile effluent treatment - A review

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DOI: 10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002

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Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014) xxx, xxx–xxx

King Saud University

Arabian Journal of Chemistry

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient

and economic adsorbent for textile effluent
treatment – A review
E. Sanmuga Priya *, P. Senthamil Selvan

Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Anna University, BIT Campus, Tiruchirappalli 620 024, Tamilnadu, India

Received 5 July 2013; accepted 1 March 2014

KEYWORDS Abstract Phytoremediation through aquatic macrophytes treatment system (AMATS) for the
Water hyacinth; removal of pollutants and contaminants from various natural sources is a well established environ-
Eichhornia crassipes; mental protection technique. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), a worst invasive aquatic weed
Textile effluent; has been utilised for various research activities over the last few decades. The biosorption capacity
Biosorption; of the water hyacinth in minimising various contaminants present in the industrial wastewater is
Wastewater; well studied. The present review quotes the literatures related to the biosorption capacity of the
Heavy metals water hyacinth in reducing the concentration of dyestuffs, heavy metals and minimising certain
other physiochemical parameters like TSS (total suspended solids), TDS (total dissolved solids),
COD (chemical oxygen demand) and BOD (biological oxygen demand) in textile wastewater. Sorp-
tion kinetics through various models, factors influencing the biosorption capacity, and role of phys-
ical and chemical modifications in the water hyacinth are also discussed.
ª 2014 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.

1. Introduction literature as every industry is unique in respect to the produc-

tion, technology and chemicals used. The textile waste water is
The discharge of toxic effluents from various industries ad- rated as the most polluting among all in the industrial sectors
versely affects water resources, soil fertility, aquatic organisms (Vilaseca et al., 2010; Awomeso et al., 2010). The textile indus-
and ecosystem integrity. Appearance of colour in discharges try consumes large quantities of water and produces large vol-
from various industries is one of the major problems encoun- umes of wastewater through various steps in dyeing and
tered in the textile industry. It is difficult to predict the charac- finishing processes. The textile waste water is a complex and
teristics of textile wastewater by reported values in the variable mixture of polluting substances like inorganic, organ-
ic, elemental and polymeric products (Brown and Laboureur,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 431 2407978. 1983). Among complex industrial wastewater with various
E-mail address: sanmug77@gmail.com (E. Sanmuga Priya). types of colouring agents, dye wastes are predominant. The
Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University. textile wastewater containing dye substances is not only toxic
to the biological world, its dark colour blocks sunlight that
leads to severe problems to the ecosystem. (Choi et al., 2004).
Due to low biodegradation of dyes, convectional biological
Production and hosting by Elsevier
treatment process is not very effective in treating dye wastes.
1878-5352 ª 2014 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
2 E. Sanmuga Priya, P. Senthamil Selvan

The usual treatment processes like physical and chemical Liao and Chang, 2004; Jayaweera and Kasturiarachchi,
methods such as coagulation, flocculation, adsorption, mem- 2004) qualify it for use in wastewater treatment ponds.
brane filtration and irradiation. (Robinson et al., 2001) achieve Considering the applications and utilisation of the water
good decolorising efficiency but they have two main con- hyacinth in various above mentioned concepts, its major role
straints: high cost and the production of the significant amount in textile effluent treatment is recently undergoing higher atten-
of sludge material that requires final disposal again. Among all tion to find an alternative for the currently available textile
the methods adsorption is one of the most effective methods of effluent treatment techniques. Thus the present review deals
removing dyes from waste sewage (Deans and Dixon, 1992; with the biosorption capacity of the water hyacinth for the
Nigam et al., 2000). The process of adsorption has an advan- treatment of textile dyes, textile waste water as well as heavy
tage over the other methods due to its sludge free operation metals in textile industrial effluent.
and complete removal of dyes even from dilute solutions. Acti-
vated carbons have been extensively utilised in various indus-
trial adsorption and separation processes because of its 2. Textile dye treatment
efficient adsorption of the organic compound. However there
are a number of drawbacks in utilisation for decolourisation Textile industries utilize substantial volumes of water and
like higher cost and operational losses such as combustion at chemicals ranging from inorganic compounds, polymers and
high temperature, pore blocking and hygroscopicity. Recently, organic products for wet-processing of textiles (Dos Santos
a considerable amount of research has been undertaken to find et al., 2007). There are more than 8000 chemical products asso-
cheaper substitutions to activated carbon. Recent develop- ciated with the dyeing process listed in the colour index,
ments of new strategies of making use of low cost, easily avail- including several types of dyes like acidic, reactive, basic, dis-
able biological and agricultural waste materials for the perse, azo, diazo, anthraquinone and metal-complex dyes (Ba-
adsorption process is gaining much importance to replace acti- nat et al., 1996). The removal of colour from dye bearing
vated carbon. Some of the low cost adsorbents that are tested effluents is one of the major problems as they contribute to
for the dye sorption process are rice husk (Manoj kumar, the major fraction of biobiological oxygen demand (BOD).
2013), bark, hair and coal (Ho and McKay, 1999), wood dust Among the new emerging treatment methods of dye removal
(Garg et al., 2004), tree bark powder (Paul Egwuonwu, 2013), by aquatic macrophytes, various reports on the removal of dif-
peat (Fernandes et al., 2006), lignin (Cotoruelo et al., 2010), ferent types of dyes by the aquatic weed water hyacinth have
wheat bran (Ata et al., 2012; Ozer and Dursun, 2007), brown gained attention in recent days.
sea weed (Vijayaraghavan and Yun, 2008), banana and orange The cationic dye methylene blue was widely studied for its
peel (Annadurai et al., 2002), fly ash (Janos et al., 2003), pine- removal from aqueous solution by the water hyacinth. Low
apple stem waste (Hameed et al., 2009), water hyacinth pulp et al. (1995) on laboratory investigations studied the potential
powder, tuberous pulp, sugarcane pulp, and coconut pulp of biomass of non-living, dried, roots of the water hyacinth (E.
(Pramanik et al., 2011). crassipes) to remove two basic dyes, methylene blue and Victo-
Aquatic macrophytes treatment system (AMATS) is a well ria blue from aqueous solutions. Various parameters studied
established environment protective technique as a phytoreme- included pH, sorbent dosage, contact time and initial concen-
diation procedure for removing pollutants. Some freshwater trations and the sorption data represented by the Langmuir
macrophytes including Potamogeton lucens, Salvinia hergozi, isotherm. Further the maximum sorption capacity of 128.9
Eichhornia crassipes, Myriophyllum spicatum, Cabomba sp., and 145.4 mg/g respectively for methylene blue and Victoria
and Cratophyllum demersum have been investigated for their blue was found out. Thus the author concluded the water hya-
potential in heavy-metal and colour removal. Their mecha- cinth root as a cheap source of biosorbent for basic dyes. The
nisms of metal and colour removal by biosorption can be clas- detailed kinetics and mechanism of adsorption of methylene
sified as extracellular accumulation/precipitation, cell surface blue from aqueous solution by nitric-acid treated water-hya-
sorption/precipitation, and intracellular accumulation (Rai cinth was studied by El-Khaiary (2007). The author found that
et al., 2002). Among these above mentioned aquatic plants the adsorption rate was fast and more than half of the ad-
E. crassipes (E.C.) (Water hyacinth) that belongs to the family sorbed-MB was removed in the first 15 min at room tempera-
pontederiaceae stands as a challenging, most productive inva- ture, which makes the process practical for industrial
sive aquatic plant on earth showing extreme risk to the ecosys- application. The overall rate of dye uptake was found to be
tem. Water hyacinth originated in the American tropics and controlled by external mass transfer at the beginning of
spread to all tropical climate countries. In India, they can be adsorption, and then gradually changed to intraparticle diffu-
found in large water areas in the Kerala backwaters, ponds sion control at a later stage. It was concluded that the adsorp-
and lakes. Due to vegetative reproduction and vigorous tion kinetics at room temperature could be expressed by the
growth rate of this plant, it dramatically impacts water flow, pseudo second order model, while at higher temperatures
blocks sunlight from reaching native aquatic plants, and (45–80 C) and low dye concentration (97 mg/L) both Lager-
starves the water of oxygen, often killing fish and also acts as gren’s model and the pseudo second order model were used
a prime habitat for mosquitoes. A typical biomass from land to predict the kinetics of adsorption. In a recent publication,
plants is composed of 30–50% cellulose, 20–40% hemicellulose Kanawade and Gaikwad (2011) studied the adsorption prop-
and 15–30% lignin. It is also found to have high nitrogen con- erty of the water hyacinth and activated carbon in removing
tent and in combination with cow dung it can be used for bio- methylene blue from aqueous solution. Kinetics and isotherm
gas production (Bhattacharya and Pawan, 2010). Its enormous studies were carried out for both the adsorbents in which the
biomass production rate, its high tolerance to pollution, and its water hyacinth fitted more accurately to the Langmuir model.
heavy metal and nutrient absorption capacities (Chanakya Saltabasß et al. (2012) studied the biosorption capacity of water
et al., 1993; Singhal and Rai, 2003; Ingole and Bhole, 2003; hyacinth roots on the cationic dyes methylene blue and

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
Water hyacinth as adsorbent in textile effluent treatement 3

malachite green. The biosorption capacity was found to be in-

Table 1 Characteristic range of various parameters and heavy
creased with a rise in temperature. The equilibrium fitted well
metals in textile wastewater.
with the Langmuir model and the biosorption capacity value
for malachite green was 42.55 mg/g and methylene blue was S. No. Parameters Typical range NEQS limit
44.64 mg/g at 313 K. In an another study, Soni et al., 2012 1 pH 5.5–10.5 6–9
found the water hyacinth root to be an efficient adsorbent 2 COD (mg/L) 350–700 Upto 150
for removing methylene blue from aqueous solution as it had 3 BOD (mg/L) 150–350 Upto 80
shown 95% dye removal efficiency in an optimum experimen- 4 TDS (mg/L) 1500–2200 Upto 3500
tal condition. Further the author concluded that WHRP as 5 TSS (mg/L) 200–1100 Upto 200
6 Sulphides (mg/L) 5–20 1.0
low cost adsorbent may be appropriate for designing batch
7 Chlorides (mg/L) 200–500 1000
or stirred tank flow reactors that can be used in small dyeing
8 Chromium (mg/L) 2–5 1.0
industries for direct solutions. Bioadsorption of various indus- 9 Zinc (mg/L) 3–6 5.0
trial dyes like methylene blue, Congo red, crystal violet, and 10 Copper (mg/L) 2–6 1.0
malachite green from aqueous solution has been performed 11 Sulphates (mg/L) 500–700 600
in the water hyacinth using lab-scale batch bioreactor (Nath 12 Sodium (mg/L) 400–600 –
et al., 2013) where maximum percentages of removal of the 13 Potassium (mg/L) 30–50 –
dyes were found to be 90%, 88%, 92%, and 90% for methy- 14 Cadmium (mg/L) 0.07–2 0.1
lene blue, congo red, crystal violet, and malachite green, 15 Iron (mg/L) 0.03–2.0 2.0
respectively. The adsorption kinetic suited with the pseudo sec- 16 Nickel (mg/L) 0.5–3 1.5
ond order and Langmuir isotherm described the equilibrium
dye uptake.
Other varieties of dyes were also studied for its removal by
water hyacinth. Tarawou et al. (2007) determined the surface phytochemical components by GC–MS analysis before and
characteristics and adsorbent properties of the water hyacinth after adsorption, where increased content of hexadecanoic acid
biomass through the batch adsorption technique in the re- and reduced phytol content were reported. Further it was also
moval of methyl red. The authors concluded that the dye elim- studied to establish the Eicchornia plants for vermicomposting
ination was associated with strong electrostatic forces. El with cow dung and leaves (See Table 1).
Zawahry and Kamel (2004) assessed the ability of E. Crassipes The optimised condition for dye absorption and the kinetic
and its aminated derivative to adsorb six dyes that included models proposed for various forms of water hyacinth with dye
reactive and acid azo and anthraquinone dyes from their solu- substances is listed out in the Table 2. From the table it is clear
tions. The authors observed that rather than the raw E.C., the that most of the dye absorption process by water hyacinth fol-
aminated derivatives with higher nitrogen and amino content lows Langmuir isotherm kinetic model with an adsorption
have shown more attraction towards the anionic groups of range of 8–200 mg/g. The variation of adsorption with pH
the dye with higher dye adsorption rates. Removal or minimi- can be explained by changes in surface property of the adsor-
sation of reactive and acid azo and anthraquinone dyes from bent and the dissociation constant of the dye. At lower acidic
their solutions by 12% aminated raw E.C. with sandene shows pH anions are easily adsorbed, while the cationic dye shows
a good adsorption capacity. Its strength values pKb increases low adsorption since H+ ions are in abundance in lower pH.
with the increasing of the efficiency and capacity of the anion Cationic dye and H+ ions compete with the adsorption site
exchanger. Equilibrium data fit well with the Freundlich model and accounts for the decrease in adsorption activity of cations.
of adsorption for six reactive and acid azo and anthraquinone At higher pH cations show good adsorption. At higher pH
dyes. OH ions are in plenty and it can compete with the anionic
Binti Awang (2010) studied the potential of water hyacinth dye, which accounts for low adsorption of anionic dye in high-
as adsorbent, in removing malachite green from aqueous solu- er pH. Thus anionic dyes are highly adsorbed at acidic pH and
tion and also identified the optimum conditions for the param- cationic dyes are highly adsorbed at basic pH (Aboul-Fetouh
eters involved. At the arrived optimum condition, the removal et al., 2010). Adsorbent dosage also varies significantly as the
of malachite green was increased with the increase in initial percentage of dye uptake increases with an increase in adsor-
concentration. In another study, stem water hyacinth (SWH) bent quantity, but the capacity for adsorption decreases which
was used as an adsorbent for the removal of acid green 20 may be due to two factors. First during adsorption, the
(AG20) as an anionic dye from aqueous solution. The equilib- adsorption sites are unsaturated and second can be due to
rium fitted well with the Langmuir II equation. (Aboul-Fetouh interactions like aggregations, which result in decrease of over-
et al., 2010). Further, adsorption of an anionic dye Congo red all surface area.
by activated water hyacinth roots was studied by Rajamohan The percentage dye adsorption efficiency of different forms
(2009). An effective pH of 6 was optimised for the adsorption of water hyacinth vs. different dyes is given in Fig. 1. From
of Congo red through batch studies. Redlich–Peterson iso- Fig. 1 it can be observed that the different forms of the water
therm best-fits with the Congo red adsorption isotherm data hyacinth did not influence the percentage adsorption in a sig-
on all initial dye concentrations. Freundlich isotherm also nificant way. All the forms of water hyacinth seem to be more
showed comparable fit. or less equal in efficiency in removing the dyes and most of the
Vasanthy et al., 2011 removed the textile dyes red RB and studies were carried out only with cationic dyes like methylene
Black B from their aqueous solutions by water hyacinth plant blue, malachite green, crystal violet etc. and very few studies
material. The efficiency of E. crassipes to remove the colour were done with anionic dyes. Further studies on anionic dyes
and degrade the dye was about 95% with Red RB and would give a clear picture in deciding the biosorption efficiency
99.5% with black B. The authors observed the changes in of water hyacinth.

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
 4
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic

Table 2 Optimised conditions and kinetic models of various dye adsorption process through different forms of the water hyacinth.
WH state Optimised condition Model Dye Absorption References
amount
WH root 0.1 g of biosorbent in 50 ml solution at 200 rpm on a gyratory Langmuir isotherm Methylene blue 128.9 mg/g Low et al.
shaker for 2 h Victoria blue 145.4 mg/g (1995)
WH biomass pH-8.0 Langmuir-type isotherm Methyl Red
30 C
8.85 · 10 2 mol g 1 Tarawou et al. (2007)
WH root pH: 6; initial dye concentration: 100 mg/L. Temperature:30 C Redlich Peterson isotherm Congo red 1 g/L Rajamohan
Adsorbent dosage: 0.1 g/50 ml equations. Freundlich (2009)
isotherm
WH stem 20 mg/L initial dye concentration, 1.0 g/L WH stem dose, and 9.0 h Langmuir isotherm Acid green 20 200 mg/g Aboul-
contact time at room temperature, pH 3 Fetouh et al.
(2010)
WH root Aq. pH 9.5; 100 mg of biosorbent per 100 mL, initial dye concentration: Langmuir-type isotherm Malachite 44.64 mg/g Saltabas et al.
soln 3 mg L 1, contact time: 60 min, temperature: 20 C, shaking rate: green 42.55 mg/g (2012)
150 rpm methylene blue
WH root pH 8; Initial dye concentration: 20 mg/L at room temperature. Langmuir and Freundlich Methylene blue 8.04 mg/g Soni et al.
Adsorbent dosage: 10 mg/L isotherms (2012)
WH dried pH 2, 50 C, and 150 rpm 0.2 g of biomass and 50 ml of dye Langmuir isotherm BF-4B reactive 20.38 mg/g Módenes
leaves solution at 50 mg/L red dye et al. (2013)
Alginate fixed Initial dye concentration = 50 mg/L, pH 8, agitated at 150 rpm at Pseudo second order Methylene blue, 86.2 mg/g Courtie and
WH room temperature for 200 min, 0.5 g of 6% biomass crystal violet Mawere
(2013)
HCl treated 0.25 · 10 3 kg of adsorbent, initial concentrations of dye Langmuir isotherm Methylene blue 0.26 kg/kg Uddin et al.
WH root 0.05–0.250 kg/m3, Temperature- 27 ± 2 C, pH 6.9 (2013)
HCl treated pH = 1.5, adsorbent dosage = 1.25 g/L, equilibrium time = 3 h Langmuir isotherm Acid red 114 112.34 mg/ Rajamohan
WH root g et al. (2013)
Surface pH 12; Dye solution:50 mL (1000 mg/L) adsorbent: 50 mg, agitated Langmuir analysis crystal violet 116.3 mg/g Kaur et al.

E. Sanmuga Priya, P. Senthamil Selvan

modified WH at 150 rpm (2013)
by SDS
1
Aq. soln of pH 7; Adsorbent dose:6.5 g/L, initial dye concentration: 65 mg L , Pseudo second order Methylene blue 6.5 g/L Nath et al.
WH optimum contact time: 5 days, Temperature = 32 C ± 2 (2013)
1
pH 6; Adsorbent dose:7.5 g/L, initial dye concentration: 75 mg L , Congo red 7.5 g/L
optimum contact time: 5 days, Temperature = 32 C ± 2
1
pH 8; Adsorbent dose:6.0 g/L, initial dye concentration: 70 mg L , Crystal violet 6.0 g/L
Optimum contact time: 5 days, Temperature = 32 C ± 2
1
pH 8; Adsorbent dose:7.0 g/L, initial dye concentration:75 mg L , Malachite 7.0 g/L
optimum contact time: 5 days, Temperature = 32 C ± 2 green
Water hyacinth as adsorbent in textile effluent treatement 5

Figure 1 Percentage dye adsorption efficiency of different forms of water hyacinth vs. various dyes indicated in the graph. (1) Aminated
raw E.C. with 12% sandene; (2) Scoured E.C.; (3) Aq. soln of WH; (4) Aq. soln of WH root; (50) WH in batch culture; (6) Activated
carbon from WH.

3. Textile waste water treatment steam washes with water hyacinth root powder (SWHR) as
adsorbent have effectively removed the true colour in dyeing
Waste water is the major environmental issue of textile indus- wastewater. Dyeing wastewater has initial value of 666 ADMI,
tries besides other minor issues like solid waste, resource wast- pH 2.0, SWHR 2.3 g/L, to 150 rpm, 24 h after the reaction, the
age and occupational health and safety. Textile industry (and temperature increased from 6 to 36 C, its true colour removal
especially its part focused on the dyeing process) belongs rate improved from 68% to 78%. In a lab scale study, Mah-
among important sources of contamination responsible for mood et al. (2005) observed that water hyacinth has the capa-
the continuous pollution of the environment as the Textile bility to reduce the pH of textile waste water from alkaline to
wastewater contains substantial pollution loads in terms of neutral, COD and BOD reduction in the range of 40–70%, to-
chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand tal solids with a maximum reduction of 50.64%. The reduction
(BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids in pH further favoured microbial action to degrade COD and
(TDS) and heavy metals. These mechanisms can result from BOD in wastewater.
complexation, metal chelation, ion exchange, adsorption and Gamage and Yapa (2001) conducted a case study on the use
micro precipitation (Rai et al., 2002). Phytoremediation is of water hyacinth in treatment systems for textile mill effluents.
one of the waste water treatment methods by using plant based The study was monitored for a period of one year on various
systems for removing the contaminants from various natural pollution physiochemical parameters at the Veyangoda textile
sources. To clean up the contaminated water, selection of an mill in Srilanka. The authors could achieve a substantial reduc-
appropriate and efficient plant system is highly essential. Those tion in volatile solids 72.6%, dissolved solids 60%, suspended
plant systems should have high uptake of both organic and solids 46.6%, 75% BOD and 81.4% COD. An increase in or-
inorganic pollutants, grow well in polluted water and be easily ganic nitrate ion concentration was seen suggesting nitrification
controlled in quantitatively propagated dispersion. (Roongta- of organic nitrogen in the medium. Similarly reduction in COD
nakiat et al., 2007). and pH was also observed in textile effluent collected from a
In a list of various plant species used for phytoremediation textile industry in Bangladesh. 60 per cent of COD was reduced
attempts, water hyacinth was selected for the review because of with the combination treatment of Nostoc, E. crassipes and Pis-
its high pollutant removal and heavy metal removal efficiency, tia stratiotes whereas 65% reduction was observed with the
higher reproduction rate and tolerance of ecological factors. combination treatment of Nostoc and E. crassipes COD in glass
The use of water hyacinth in wastewater treatment systems containers. pH was reduced from 11.2 to 8.6. (Roy et al., 2010).
has been increasingly reported and treatment regimens are Pramanik et al., 2011 examined the removal of dye and patho-
developed as a result of successful project reports on its phyto- genic bacteria from textile dye effluent of high strength COD by
remediation approaches. It has a huge potential for removal of different adsorbents such as water hyacinth, tuberose pulp, sug-
the wide range of pollutants from wastewater (Chua, 1998; arcane pulp and coconut pulp. The experimental results sug-
Maine et al., 2001; Sim, 2003; Mangabeira et al., 2004) and gested that water hyacinth is the best natural adsorbent on
has the ability to grow in highly contaminated waters (So the basis of removing dye and harmful pathogenic bacteria.
et al., 2003). It is also used to improve the quality of water Kannadasan et al., 2013 studied the effectiveness of a nat-
by reducing the levels of organic, inorganic nutrients (Delgado ural coagulant derived from a cactus species for turbidity re-
et al., 1995) and heavy metals (Soltan and Rashed, 2003; Zhu moval from dye industry effluent. Other parameters such as
et al., 1999). pH as well as colour were also studied. High turbidity removal
Jie (1998) evaluated the removal of dyeing wastewater true determined indicates that cactus (Opuntia) and water hyacinth
colour (ADMI) by water hyacinth root powder. Pressure (E. crassipes) have the potential to be utilised for waste water

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
6 E. Sanmuga Priya, P. Senthamil Selvan

treatment applications. Similarly Shah et al., 2010 observed of the studies were carried out on the adsorption of heavy met-
water hyacinth as a remediation tool for dye effluent pollution. als from the aqueous metal solution.
The authors reported significant decrease in the pH, TDS, con- Mokhtar et al., 2011 reported E. crassipes as a hyperaccu-
ductivity, hardness, DO, BOD, COD, nitrate nitrogen and mulator for copper with an efficiency of 97.3% removal from
ammonium nitrogen in various concentrations of wastewater, an aqueous solution containing various concentrations of cop-
where the water hyacinth performed well in 25–50% wastewa- per. (1.5, 2.5 and 5.5 mg/L of copper, for a period of 21 days).
ter and not in 75–100% wastewater. Thus the authors con- The roots and shoots tissues have shown an increase in concen-
cluded that the water hyacinth can be utilised for treating tration with a decrease in aqueous solution. Ajayi and Ogun-
dye waste water after dilution. bayo, 2012 studied the efficiency of water hyacinth in
Thus overall water hyacinth could reduce the alkaline pH removing Cd, Cu and Fe from various wastewaters like textile,
to neutral and this reduction may be due to the absorption pharmaceutical and metallurgical in which it seems to be a
of nutrients or by simultaneous release of H+ ions with the up- good choice for removing cadmium but not so much for the
take of metal ions (Mahmood et al., 2005). According to Red- removal of iron and copper. During the 5 weeks duration of
dy (1981), the presence of plants in wastewater depletes the experiment, the removal of cadmium by the water hyacinth
dissolved CO2 during the period of photosynthetic activity was 94.87% in textile wastewater, 95.59% in metallurgical
and an increase in DO of water, thus creates aerobic condi- wastewater and 93.55% in pharmaceutical wastewater. Jay-
tions in wastewater, which favours the aerobic bacterial activ- aweera et al. (2008) concluded in their study that water hya-
ity to reduce the BOD and COD. cinths grown under nutrient-poor conditions are ideal to
Gupta et al, compared the phytoremediation efficiency of remove iron from wastewaters.
three aquatic macrophytes water hyacinth, water lettuce and Schneider et al. (1995) studied the feasibility of dried water
vetiver grass. Aquatic macrophytes were found to absorb hyacinth roots for the removal of Pb2+, Cu2+, Cd2+ and
nutrients with their effective root system. They are widely used Zn2+ ions from aqueous solution. The authors found that
to remove nutrients and heavy metals in the form of construc- the dried roots and aerial parts of the water hyacinth are better
tive wetlands or retention ponds because of their fast growth biosorbents than the biomass of the bacterium Mycobacterium
rate and ability to accumulate toxic materials. Phytoremedia- phlei, the yeast Candida parapsilosis, fungal Rhizopus oryzae
tion of wastewater using floating aquatic macrophytes is an strains, and acacia bark in terms of lead and copper uptake
economic method to establish requires minimum maintenance per dried mass of biosorbent. Hasan et al. (2010) reported that
and also improves biodiversity. The author concluded that water hyacinth biomass (WHB) has shown high potential for
many researchers have used water hyacinth, water lettuce the removal of hexavalent chromium from aqueous solution
and vetiver grass for the removal of water contaminants but with Box–Behnken RSM design in which the R2 value was
their treatment capabilities depend on different factors like cli- 99.8%. But Elangovan et al. (2008) reported that among var-
mate, contaminants of different concentrations, temperature, ious aquatic plants studied water hyacinth efficiency was good
etc. The removal efficiency of contaminants like TSS, TDS, with removal of Cr3+ rather than Cr6+.
BOD, COD, EC, hardness, heavy metals, etc varies from plant In a study by Kolawole (2001) of water hyacinth cultivation
to plant. Plant growth rate and hydraulic retention time can in a plastic bowl containing textile industry effluent the sample
influence the reduction of contaminants. analysis has shown 70–90% removal of heavy metals like iron,
lead, copper and chromium. Mahmood et al. (2005) reported
4. Heavy metal removal that the water hyacinth plant could be able to remove metal
ions like chromium, zinc and copper from the textile effluent
Among the various plants species group, aquatic macrophytes collected from Lahore district, Pakistan. The feasibility of
attain greatest interest in the field of phytoremediation. Aqua- water hyacinth to treat wastewater from five textile effluent
tic macrophytes have great potential to accumulate heavy met- samples was investigated for a period of 96 h and it was ob-
als inside their plant bodies. These plants can accumulate served that the water hyacinth containing textile effluent
heavy metals up to 100,000 times greater than the amount in wastewaters have the potential to remove a maximum of
the associated water. Therefore, these macrophytes have been 94.78% reduction in chromium, 96.88% in zinc and 94.44%
used for heavy metal removal from a variety of sources (Mish- reduction in copper.
ra and Tripathi, 2008). Aquatic macrophytes such as water
hyacinth, is one of the most commonly used plants in con- 5. Modifications in water hyacinth
structed wetlands because of its fast growth rate and large up-
take of nutrients and contaminants (Rai, 2009; Yahya, 1990; To improve the efficiency of the biosorption property of water
Vesk et al., 1999; Tiwari et al., 2007). Dried water hyacinth hyacinth various researchers have identified the tools like
roots (Schneider et al., 1995; Hasan et al., 2010; Elangovan chemical modification and processing of the water hyacinth
et al., 2008), ash derived from water hyacinth (Mahmood plants and its other parts. The acid/alkali treated water hya-
et al., 2010; Kadirvelu et al., 2004) and the whole plant where cinth was found to be efficient in removing various metal ions
the metals are taken up by the roots of the plant and translo- rather than the untreated plant materials. The ionisation of
cated to the shoots and other plant tissues (Kelly and Guerin, various functional groups present on the surface of the adsor-
1995; Cunnigham and Berti, 1995; Jadia and Fulekar, 2009) bents in aqueous solution enable them to involve in cation
were used by various researchers for the removal of heavy binding with the metal ions and thus the acid and alkali treat-
metals. ment of the biomass was studied by several researchers in bio-
The adsorption efficiency of the water hyacinth in various sorption of metal ions. (Yao and Ramelow, 1997; Mahamadi
forms to adsorb heavy metals is listed in Table 3, where most and Nharingo, 2010a,b; Elangovan et al., 2008).

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
 Water hyacinth as adsorbent in textile effluent treatement
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic

Table 3 Heavy metal adsorption capacity of the water hyacinth from different sources.
S. No. Source of water hyacinth Heavy metal Source Adsorption capacity Optimised condition Model References
1 Dried water hyacinth – shoot and Cd (II) and Pb (II) Aqueous solution 75% for Cd and more Dosage of 5.0 g/L and Second order kinetic Ibrahim et al. (2012)
root than 90% for Pb pH 5.0
2 Eichhornia crassipes biomass Pb(II), Cd(II) Aqueous solution Sorption capacities (qm) (C0 = 10–60 mg/L), 3 h Langmuir isotherm Mahamadi and
and Zn(II) of 26.32, 12.60 contact time, Nharingo (2010)
and 12.55 mg/g for 30 C, 2 g/L, 150 rpm
Pb(II), Cd(II) and and pH 4.84
Zn(II) metal ions
3 Eichhornia crassipes-type Zn (II) and Batch binary system 0.65 mequiv./g 30 C temperature and Pseudo second-order Módenes et al. (2011)
biosorbent Cd (II) maximum metal uptake with non-uniform kinetic model
biosorbent grain sizes
4 Dry hyacinth roots (DHR) Ar Spiked drinking 90% Arsenic removal Concentration of 20 g/L Batch and continuous Govindaswamy
water sample DHR column experiments et al. (2011)
5 Water hyacinth plant Fe Fe rich wastewaters. 6707Fe mg/kg dry – Batch process (Fibre Jayaweera et al. (2008)
In constructed weight glass tanks)
wetlands
6 Water hyacinth plant Al Al rich waste water Highest – Batch process (Fibre Jayaweera et al. (2007)
in constructed phytoremediation glass tanks)
wet lands efficiency of 63%
7 Water hyacinth plant Mn Synthetic wastewater Phytoextraction mode of pH (6.2 to 7.1) – Kularatne et al. (2009)
in constructed manganese removal
wetlands
8 Water hyacinth plant Cu, Cd, Anaerobic upflow 98% for Cd, 99% for 10 days with a – Sekomo et al. (2012)
Pb and Zn packed bed Cu, 98% for Pb and hydraulic retention
reactor with water 84% for Zn time of one day
hyacinth ponds
9 Water hyacinth roots Pb(II) ions Aqueous solutions – Batch process pseudo- Singha and Das (2012)
second-order model
10 Water hyacinth plant Zn and Cr Aqueous solution 95% of zinc and 84% of – – Mishra and
chromium Tripathi (2009)
11 Water hyacinth plant Fe, Zn, Cu, Aqueous solution (>90%) of – – Mishra and
Cr and Cd different metals during Tripathi (2008)
15 days experiment
12 Water hyacinth plant Cd and Zn Aqueous solution Metal uptake by the – – Hasan et al. (2007)
plant was dependent
upon the
concentration of
the metal and the
duration of the exposure
time
13 Eichhornia crassipes biomass Pb(2+), Cd(2+) Binary and ternary Metal sorption followed
and Zn(2+) ions systems the order
Pb(2+)>>Cd(2+)>>Zn(2+) 30 C and pH 4.84 Langmuir Competitive Mahamadi and
Model (CLM), Nharingo (2010)
14 Dried powdered stem and leaves Cr6+ Batch sorption process 91.5181 mg/g maximum pH 2.0, 40 C, 300 mg/L Langmuir sorption Hasan et al. (2010)
of Eichhornia crassipes biomass meta isotherm
concentration.

7
8 E. Sanmuga Priya, P. Senthamil Selvan

FTIR and molecular modelling proves that a functional

Kadirvelu et al. (2004)

group like COOH could enhance the ability of the dry plant

Buasri et al. (2012)

for mediating heavy metals through the interaction of the or-

Mohamad and
ganic acids with the heavy metals (Osman et al., 2010; Ibrahim

Latif (2010)
and Scheytt, 2007). Ibrahim et al. (2009) used molecular spec-
References
troscopic techniques to study the potential of the water hya-
cinth dry matter for the removal of heavy metals from
wastewater. The authors observed that water hyacinth which
is subjected to acetic acid is able to absorb acetate which finds

Radushkevich equations
its way to the cellulose of the plant. It was further suggested

Langmuir, Freundlich,
Temkin and Dubinin–
that the treated water hyacinth has the additional advantage
Langmuir isotherm

that it reduces or even eliminates the diverse impact of the

Freundlich and

weed on the environment.

Similarly the higher efficiency of structurally modified
water hyacinth in dyestuff removal through cyanoethylation
Model

and amidoximation was observed by Somboon and Bhavakul

–

(2012). The hydroxyl functional group in the water hyacinth

was chemically converted to the nitrile group by cyanoethyl-
ation reaction and part of the nitrile group was converted to
Optimised condition

size of 125–180 lm
pH 5 for a particle

the amino group by amidoximation and this modified water

hyacinth (WH-AO) was able to adsorb acid blue 25 with high-
er efficiency on comparing with basic blue 9.
Kaur et al. (2013a) modified Eichhornia charcoal with so-
dium dodecyl sulphate and employed it as adsorbent for the
removal of crystal violet from aqueous solution. Morphology
–

and surface of the adsorbent were characterised by SEM,

XRD and FTIR. Kaur et al. (2013b) studied the efficiency
83.01 mg Zn2+ per 1 g
Cadmium in shoots –

of Eichhornia charcoal to remove Congo red dye from aque-

99.42 mg Cu2+ and
Adsorption capacity

roots 9646.0 lg/g

148.0 lg/g roots –

ous solutions. Uddin et al. treated WH with hydrochloric

1899.0 lg/g; in

acid and observed higher efficiency (dye uptake 0.26 kg/kg)

zinc in shoots
2006.0 lg/g.

in removing methylene blue from aqueous solution.

28.4 mg/g

biomass

6. Advanced techniques in dye removal vs. water hyacinth

Aqueous metal solution

Although various physical, chemical and biological processes

like reverse osmosis, flocculation, activated carbon adsorption,
Aqueous solution

Aqueous solution

and microbial treatment are involved as dye treatment tech-

niques, adsorption process plays a major role and was pre-
ferred as an promising and efficient method for the
Source

treatment of dyes and dye effluents. Various studies are re-

ported in the literatures using different adsorbents like alu-
mina, zeolite, and polyurethane foam etc (Módenes et al.,
2013). The disadvantages of advance technology entail high
Heavy metal

Cd and Zn

Cu and Zn

operating cost, makes them ineffective to treat the wide range

of effluents. Industrial and agricultural wastes (coir pith, sun
2+

flower stalks], rice husk, neem leaves, mango seed kernel, mod-
Hg

ified saw dust, peanut hulls, pineapple stem, banana pith, or-
ange peel, guava leaf, wheat shell, wheat bran, egg shell,
corn cobs and barley husk, treated wood shavings, almond,
lemon peel, degreased coffee bean, rubber wood, jute fibre car-
from Eicchornia crassipes
Activated carbon derived
Source of water hyacinth

bon) as low cost adsorbents are highlighted as an economic

Water hyacinth plant

Water hyacinth fibre

mode of dye effluent treatment nowadays. However the

adsorption capacities of the low cost adsorbents mentioned
above remain elusive and are not satisfactory. Thus still the
(continued)

search for simple, economic, ecofriendly, and highly effective

adsorbents is continuing.
E. crassipes being one of the worst weeds in the world as a
vigorous grower which is known to double its population with-
Table 3

in two weeks was worked out as a cheap and easily available

S. No.

adsorbent for dye and effluent treatment by various research-

15

16

17

ers. The weed and its various forms, modifications have been

Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
Water hyacinth as adsorbent in textile effluent treatement 9

studied for increased efficacy. However much more detailed Chanakya, H.N., Borgaonkar, S., Meena, G., Jagadish, K.S., 1993.
study on various textile dyes and different modified forms will Solid-phase biogas production with garbage or water hyacinth.
establish water hyacinth as a simple, best and economic source Bioresour. Technol. 46 (3), 227–231.
for dye effluent treatment in the near future. Choi, J.W., Song, H.K., Lee, W., Koo, K.K., Han, C., Na, B.K., 2004.
Reduction of COD and colour of acid and reactive dyestuff
wastewater using ozone. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 21, 398.
7. Conclusion Chua, H., 1998. Bio-accumulation of environmental residues of rare
earth elements in aquatic flora Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) solms in
Water hyacinth, the worst aquatic weed was found to be highly Guangdong province of China. Sci. Total Environ. 214, 79–
impossible to eradicate from the water ways, though its quest 85.
Cotoruelo, L.M., Marques, M.D., Dı́az, F.J., Rodrı́guez-Mirasol, J.,
for nutrients has given a possible way for its usage in phyto-
Rodrı́guez, J.J., Cordero, T., 2010. Equilibrium and kinetic study
remediation. In the last few years great interest has been shown
of Congo red adsorption onto lignin-based activated carbons.
for the research of water hyacinth as a good candidate for pol- Trans. Porous Media 83 (3), 573–590.
lutant removal or even as a bioindicator for heavy metals in Courtie, M., Mawere, Epias, 2013. Kinetic modeling of methylene blue
aquatic ecosystems. In this present article the detailed biosorp- and crystal violet dyes adsorption on alginate-fixed water hyacinth
tion efficiency of the water hyacinth in the removal of various in single and binary systems. Am. J. Anal. Chem. 4, 17–24.
pollutants present in textile waste water was enumerated. In Cunnigham, S.D., Berti, W.R. 1995. In: Hinchee, R.E., Means, J.L.,
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adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
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adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
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Please cite this article in press as: Sanmuga Priya, E., Senthamil Selvan, P. Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) – An efficient and economic
adsorbent for textile effluent treatment – A review. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2014.03.002
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