The Ability of Ceratophyllum Demersum to Remediate Polluted Water with Cadmium, Nickel and Lead: Optimization Study

Abstract

Phytoremediation is efficient, eco-friendly and economic selected for the treatment using Ceratophyllum demersum as quantic plant. The physical characterization of Ceratophyllum demersum shows structural characteristic contributed significantly to the high removal efficiency.
Heavy metal contamination of aquatic environments is a significant environmental concern due to the toxicity and persistence of metals such as cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb). This study investigated the potential of Ceratophyllum demersum biomass for the simultaneous removal of Cd, Ni, and Pb from aqueous solutions.
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the treatment conditions and identify the combination of parameters that maximized the predicted removal of the three metals. The initial metal concentrations ranged from 0.5 to 5 mg/L. The optimization results indicated that the maximum predicted simultaneous removal could be achieved at an optimum treatment time of approximately 18.3 days and a biomass dosage of 51.8 g. These findings suggest that Ceratophyllum demersum has potential as a plant-based material for the removal of multiple heavy metals from contaminated water. Furthermore, the application of RSM provided an effective approach for identifying optimal treatment conditions. Further experimental validation is recommended to confirm the predicted optimum and evaluate the feasibility of applying this method to real wastewater treatment systems.