Rhizofiltration of lead using an aromatic medicinal plant Plectranthus amboinicus cultured in a hydroponic nutrient film technique (NFT) system.

Heavy metal contamination of water bodies and groundwater is a major concern of the modern world. Rhizofiltration--the use of plant root system to remove/extract pollutants from wastewater--has proven advantages over conventional methods of treatment. However, commercialization of this in situ remediation technology requires a better understanding of plant-metal interactions especially on the ability of different plant species to accumulate metals at different parts of the plant system which is critical for the successful remediation of contaminated medium. Many aquatic and terrestrial plants have been reported to accumulate heavy metals when grown hydroponically. Therefore, a batch experiment with different concentrations of lead and a nutrient film technique (NFT) experiment with recycling of wastewater were employed in this study in order to investigate the rhizofiltration of lead-containing wastewater using Plectranthus amboinicus, an aromatic medicinal plant. Results show that P. amboinicus is tolerant to a wide range of lead concentrations and nutrient deficiency. The plant accumulates considerable amount of lead, particularly in the roots, and translocation to the stem and leaf was limited, indicating that the use of leaves/above-ground parts of the plant for medicinal purposes is not hindered by its ability to remove lead from the soil or water. The study also suggests that the plant can be considered for the clean-up of lead-contaminated wastewater in combination with safe biomass disposal alternatives.