Thesis Archive
EVALUATION OF THE PHYTOREMEDIATION POTENTIAL OF PHILIPPINE BAMBOO SPECIES IN COPPER CONTAMINATED MEDIA
Ivan Lawrence D. Arcilla
Jessa Marie A. Banua
Jennivee C. Chua
Abstract:
Utilization of heavy metals for industrialization has brought about adverse effects to beings and the environment. Copper, which is the third most utilized heavy metal, can cause deleterious health effects. Phytoremediation offers a remediation technique that can be practically applied with an endemic plant in the Philippines such as bamboo. Such species namely Bambusa blumeana (Tinik), Bambusa merilliana (Bayog) and Dendrocalamus asper (Giant Bamboo) were evaluated for the Cu accumulation at 80 μM Cu-contaminated hydroponic solution where D. asper was deemed the best phytoremediation potential as the other species released Cu possibly because of its defense mechanisms. Copper ions generally accumulated within the roots with translocation factors less than 1 for its culm, branches and leaves suggesting contaminant uptake in to the roots may be faster than translocation to the shoots. Accumulation of copper and kinetic modelling for the contaminant removal and contaminant accumulation within the roots were carried out for the D. asper species exposed to 40, 80 and 120 μM Cu contamination. The rate of copper removal per mass of plant had the best for the 0th order model in the 80 μM solution with an R2 of 0.954 and rate constant of 3.136 mg-kg-1d-1. The accumulation of Cu within the roots for 7 days followed the Michaelis-Menten model with an R2 of 0.970, the Michaelis-Menten constant (KM) was 4.87 mg/L and maximum accumulation velocity (Vmax) was 66.26 mg Cu-kg-1-day-1.
Adviser:
Dr. Lawrence P. Belo
Dr. Cynthia F. Madrazo