Innovation in Utilisation of Apu-apu (Pistia stratiotes) for Phytoremediation of Heavy Metal Contaminants in Industrial Wastewater: A Case Study on Local Biodiversity

Abstract

Environmental pollution due to heavy metals in industrial wastewater is a serious problem for human health and ecosystems. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Pistia stratiotes in absorbing heavy metals such as Pb, Cd, Hg, Ni, Cu, and Zn from wastewater. The method used was a quantitative experiment with observations for 3 weeks. Industrial wastewater was analysed before and after treatment using a spectrophotometer to measure heavy metal concentrations. The results showed that Pistia stratiotes was able to significantly reduce heavy metal concentrations, especially Pb with a reduction of up to 79.6% from the initial concentration of 2.50 mg/L to 0.51 mg/L. The reduction effectiveness for Cd reached 79.2%, Hg 78%, and Ni 77.2%. However, Cu and Zn reductions were lower, at 70% and 69.3%, respectively. This study concludes that Pistia stratiotes has great potential as an effective phytoremediation agent to reduce heavy metal concentrations in industrial wastewater.

Keywords

• heavy metals
• wastewater
• phytoremediation
• apu-apu(pistia stratiotes)