| dc.description.abstract | Anthracene is a mutagenic and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
mainly found in crude oil. Anthracene shows bioaccumulation and biomagnification
due to its high lipid solubility. Therefore, anthracene has the ability to accumulate
in toxic levels at higher tropic level organisms. A high stability makes this organic
pollutant harder to remove from the environment. This study aims to characterize
alternative plant-based bioremediation techniques to clean up anthracene from
crude oil-contaminated aquatic ecosystems. We tested whether Eichhornia
crassipes, an invasive water plant commonly known as water hyacinth is capable of
absorbing anthracene from contaminated water. Considering the low water
solubility and mass transfer of anthracene, we further investigated how a non-ionic
surfactant Triton-X-100 could affect anthracene absorption into the water hyacinth
plant. Plants were treated with anthracene-spiked crude oil-containing water with
or without Triton-X-100 and grown for 11 days. Plant roots were cleaned, freezedried,
and subjected to ultra-sonication. Anthracene was extracted from root tissues
using dichloromethane: acetone mixture. Silica column chromatography was
performed for further purification. Identification and quantification of anthracene
were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography, using a C18
reverse phase column. Control plants were grown in fresh water. Results indicated
that the water hyacinth plant absorbed 1.98 ± 0.66 mg/kg of anthracene into the
root tissues. The presence of Triton-X-100 significantly increased anthracene
uptake to 11.06 ± 0.31 mg/kg. This represents a surfactant-mediated 5.6-fold
increase in anthracene uptake in the plant. Using Triton-X-100 can be a viable option
to enhance the efficacy of anthracene removal from contaminated waters by water
hyacinth plants. | en_US |
