Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PHYTOREMEDIATION OF XENOBIOTICS – A GREEN APPROACHFOR THE TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC WASTEWATER

Bathmapriya Durairaj, Vasthi Gnana Rani, Jeyaraj, M., Sivapuniyam Ananth,Prabu Kumar Seetharaman and Thangamathi Perumal

Abstract

Remediation of xenobiotics from wastewater is highly essential due to its harmful impacts.Several chemicaland physical processes are used to recover xenobiotics from wastewater, including ion exchange, reverseosmosis, electrodialysis, and ultrafiltration. However, the biological method of employing microalgae, hasaroused the scientific community’s interest due to its cheap operating costs and effectiveness in absorbingand/or removing organic and elemental contaminants from wastewater. Chlorella vulgaris was used as abiological absorbent, in the remediation of domestic wastewater (DWW). The results of this work indicatedthat C. vulgaris, effectively eliminated pollutants and improved the physicochemical characteristics ofwastewater such as pH, DO, alkalinity. Simultaneously, it also decreased BOD, COD, suspended solids,heavy metals (HMs) such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) andnutrient load (phosphate and nitrate) of DWW. Effective remediation of the pollutants was attained within4h of C. vulgaris cultivation. The removal of toxic compoundssuch as 4-methoxy carbonylbenzo hydrazide,benzamine 4,4’ methylene bis, acetamide, and N-(2-methyl phenyl), was confirmed with GC-MS analysis.The removal of polysulfides and aliphatic bromo compounds was evident from the FTIR studies. Pearson’scorrelation analysis showed a positive correlation between physicochemical variables and algal biomass.Hence, the current study recommends biological wastewater treatment,by utilizing C. vulgaris as an effectiveand eco-friendly option, for removing pollutants and restoring the physicochemical properties of water.