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Leachate Characterization and Phytoremediation UsingWater Hyacinth (Eichorrnia crassipes) in Pulau Burung,MalaysiaChristopher O. Akinbile a b , Mohd Suffian Yusoff a & Lee Mei Shian aa School of Civil Engineering , Universiti Sains Malaysia , Penang , Malaysiab Department of Agricultural Engineering , Federal University of Technology , Akure , NigeriaPublished online: 29 Feb 2012.

To cite this article: Christopher O. Akinbile , Mohd Suffian Yusoff & Lee Mei Shian (2012) Leachate Characterization andPhytoremediation Using Water Hyacinth (Eichorrnia crassipes) in Pulau Burung, Malaysia, Bioremediation Journal, 16:1, 9-18,DOI: 10.1080/10889868.2011.628350

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Bioremediation Journal, 16(1):9–18, 2012Copyright ©c 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1088-9868DOI: 10.1080/10889868.2011.628350

Leachate Characterization andPhytoremediation Using Water Hyacinth

(Eichorrnia crassipes) in Pulau Burung,Malaysia

Christopher O. Akinbile,1,2

Mohd Suffian Yusoff,1 andLee Mei Shian1

1School of Civil Engineering,Universiti Sains Malaysia,Penang, Malaysia2Department of AgriculturalEngineering, Federal Universityof Technology, Akure, Nigeria

ABSTRACT Leachate from Pulau Burung landfill site was analyzed andtreated using phytoremediation technique while water hyacinth (Eichhorniacrassipes) was used as the phytoremediator. Some parameters analyzed includedammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), nitrate, nitrite, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN),phosphate, and zinc. The range of values of nutrients such as the pH, ammo-nia nitrogen, TKN, phosphate and zinc during leachate characterization were8.72 and 8.58, 1810 and 1070 mg/L, 1183 and 1120 mg/L, 46.4 and 31.2 mg/L,11.1 and 5.4 mg/L, respectively. After phytoremediation, significant reductionwas noticed in all the nutrients and zinc. Nitrite, phosphate and zinc values werebetween 91.9% and 98.2%, 4.4 to 0.6 mg/L and 1.1 and 0.1 mg/L, respectively.Statistical analyses showed significant differences between the planted and un-planted systems (p ≤ .05). It was established that Eichhornia crassipes had thecapacity to remove nutrients and heavy metals from leachate, which requirestreatment to minimize pollutants to an acceptable level before discharging intowater courses.

KEYWORDS waste, leachate, phytoremediation, nutrients, Eichhornia crassipes

INTRODUCTIONWaste management has become an increasingly difficult activity due

to the increase in complexity of waste generation. Also responsible wasthe burgeoning human population as well as industrial and technologicalrevolutions (Akinbile and Ajayi 2011). The environment has been exposedto an unprecedented million of tons of generated waste. About 95% of thetotal municipal solid waste (MSW) collected worldwide was disposed offin landfills, resulting in the production of municipal solid waste (MSW)landfill leachate (Fade et al. 1997). Leachate is liquid formed primarily fromprecipitated water that percolated through an open landfill. This may containlarge amounts of organic contaminants such as chemical oxygen demand(COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), ammonia, heavy metals, andinorganic salts (Jones, Williamson, and Owen 2006). The liquid usually migrate

Address correspondence toChristopher O. Akinbile, School of CivilEngineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia14300, Nibong Tebal, Penang,Malaysia. E-mail:cecoakinbile@eng.usm.my

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from the landfill to pollute surface and groundwatersupplies, thereby potentially impacting aquatic ecosys-tems and human health (George, Edward, and Rovers1999). Generally, the risk of leachate on the natural en-vironment has assumed a frightening dimension andpotent severe danger unless measures are put in placeto prevent it. One of the numerous cost-effective andenvironment-friendly technologies for remediation ofsoils and polluted wastewaters with toxic substancesespecially heavy metals is phytoremediation (Prasad2007). This has been described as usage or plants toclean up soil, sediment, and water contaminated withmetals and organic contaminants such as crude oil,solvents, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (Liao andChange 2004). It is an aesthetically pleasing mechanismthat has been proved to reduce remedial costs, restorehabitat, and clean up contamination in places ratherthan transporting the problem to another site (Singeret al. 2007). Phytoremediation has become a promisingremediation technique with the discovery of hyperaccu-mulator, plants that are able to take up large quantitiesof metals (Cofield, Banks, and Schwab 2007). Water hy-acinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is one of the plant speciesthat has attracted considerable attention because of itsability to grow in heavily polluted water together withits capacity for metal ion accumulation (Mahamadi andNharingo 2010). It was reported under investigationthat, Eichhornia crassipes has been tested for removal oftwo important heavy metals chromium (Cr) and zinc(Zn) from metal solutions (Akinbile and Yusoff 2012).The plant had performed extremely well in removingthese metals from their solution and was capable of re-moving up to 95% of Zn and 84% of Cr during 11-dayincubation period (Mishra and Tripathi 2009). Waterhyacinth contains more than 95% water, due to its fi-brous tissue and a high energy and protein content(Malike 2007). The plant was used as phytoremediatorfor landfill leachate from Pulau Burung in this study.Water hyacinth was considered due to its relevance be-cause of its high biomass production, wide distribution,and tolerance to metals for the phytoremediation ac-tivity in Pulau Burung (Gan, Lau, and Ng 2009). InMalaysia, the challenge of searching for alternatives tolandfill for solid waste management arising from prob-lems of leachate is still ongoing. The problem had ledto the pollution of water resources and adversely af-fected the local environment (Jones, Williamson, andOwen 2006). This study was conducted on Pulau Bu-rung sanitary landfill (PBSL) in Malaysia. The objec-

tives of the study were to characterize the initial PBSLleachate using randomly selected parameters as pH, ni-trate, nitrite, ammonia, TKN, phosphate, and zinc, andto investigate their removal from landfill leachate usingEichhornia crassipes. Other objectives were to study thepotential of Eichhornia crassipes to treat leachate basedon relative growth and to compare the treatability ofsanitary landfill leachate with and without water hy-acinth as the phytoremediator.

MATERIALS AND METHODSSite Characteristics

Pulau Burung sanitary landfill (PBSL) site is locatedwithin the Byram Forest Reserve at 5◦24′N latitude and100◦24′E longitude in Penang, Malaysia, approximately20 km southeast of Penang Island (Aghamohammadiet al. 2007). The total landfill site area is 63.4 ha,but only 33 ha are currently operational in receiving2200 tons of solid waste daily. The depth of solid wasteis between 10 and 30 m (Bashir et al. 2009).

Leachate SamplingSamples were collected from the leachate pond from

January to March 2010, kept in plastic containers (high-density polyethylene [HDPE]), and later transferred tothe laboratory and stored in the cold room at 4◦Ctemperature, prior to analysis and in accordance withthe American Public Health Association (APHA 2005)preservation techniques to minimize biological andchemical activities.

Leachate CharacterizationLeachate characterization was carried out by diluting

to 1:10 ratio of the initial concentration to ensure thatthe contaminant of the leachate was highly concen-trated or toxic for the treatment, which can be lethal toaquatic plants. Leachate was characterized for pH, ni-trate, nitrite, ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, and zinc.The analytical procedures of standard method for ex-amination of water and wastewater (APHA 2005) andHACH standard methods (modification of APHA stan-dard method as approved by United State Environ-mental Protection Agency [US EPA]) were followed.The obtained parameters values were compared withthe data published by previous researchers and the

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Environmental Quality Act of Malaysia 1974 (MDCSdn. Bhd 1997).

Plant (Eichhornia crassipes)Preparation and Experimental

ApproachesWater hyacinths were collected and taken to the

laboratory from Taman Pekaka’s river and rhizomesseparated before being transferred to the hydroponicbasins. A laboratory-constructed hydroponic systemsconsisting of plastic growth pots was set up as a growthmedium. Water hyacinths were added with fresh weightof 150 ± 20 g put into each of the pots, which containeddiluted (1:10) leachate and another container withoutwater hyacinth that contained 10 L diluted leachatewas set as control. The treatments used included waterhyacinth in leachate sample (B1), in nutrient solution(B2), and in deionized water (B3), which served as con-trol. Other treatments considered were leachate sample(R1), nutrient solution (R2), and deionized water (R3).DI represented deionized water and all were withoutthe phytoremediator. Leachate samples were collectedthree times a week and average representative value wasrecorded weekly from day 0 to day 49 from the ex-perimental container for the determination of nutrientand metal concentrations. Initial and final fresh weightswere taken and the dry weight of plant was determinedafter 49 days. A preliminary study was carried out todetermine the concentration of selected nutrient in theleachate and accumulation in plant tissue within 7 days.Water loss and gain were recorded daily to keep individ-ual pot water volume constant. Preliminary and entirestudy durations were 7 and 49 days, respectively. Theleachate samples and plant analyses were conductedweekly throughout the experiment duration, whereasanalysis on daily basis was done for preliminary study.

Measurement of ParametersThe pH was measured by using Hach (Session Lab-

oratory, Loveland, Colorado, USA) pH meter, whereasnitrate (NO−

3 ) and nitrite (NO−2 ) were measured us-

ing standard laboratory procedures (Nitra Ver 2 Ni-trite Reagent Powder Pillow) and by Hach DR/2500spectrophotometer (Session Laboratory). Ammonia ni-trogen was determined using the mineral stabilizer,polyvinyl alcohol dispersing agent, and Nessler reagent.The samples were measured by using Hach DR/2500

spectrophotometer. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN)concentration was measured by using a Buchi DigestionUnit (Model B-414) and Buchi Distillation Unit (ModelK-314) (Labortechnik, Essen, Germany). All proceduresfor TKN were in accordance with APHA (2005) tech-niques. Phosphate and zinc were measured by PhosVer 3 Phosphate Powder Pillow, Zinco Ver 5 ReagentPowder Pillow and cyclohexanone, and Hach DR/2500spectrophotometer. The procedures for decompositionof samples were by using nitric acid (HNO3) digestionmethod for heavy metal and sulfuric acid–hydrogenperoxide wet digestion for nutrients. These were donein accordance with the standard methods of APHA(2005).

Statistical AnalysisResults of all the nutrients and heavy metal consid-

ered for the study were subjected to statistical analysisusing the analysis of variance (ANOVA) package. Thiswas to ascertain performance of the phytoremediatoron leachate from PBLS in the study. They were alltested as 95% confidence intervals (p ≤ 0.05).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONCharacteristics of Municipal SolidWaste (MSW) Landfill Leachate at

PBLSLandfill leachate had a turbid dark brown color

that differed slightly by the age and type of landfill.Both color and turbidity were classified as physicalcharacterization of leachate but were highly dependenton the chemical structure of the landfill leachate. Table1 shows the characterization of Pulau Burung landfill

TABLE 1 Landfill Leachate Characterization at Pulau BurungSite

Parameters19 January

201022 March

2010Acceptable

levels

pH 8.72 8.58 5.5–9.0Nitrate 52.4 24.7 0.1–50Nitrite 193 93.3 0.01–25Ammonia nitrogen 1810 1070 1–1500Total Kjeldahl

nitrogen1120 1182.72 80–120

Phosphate 46.4 31.2 0.1–2.0Zinc 11.1 5.4 1.0–2.0

Note. Except otherwise stated, all units are mg/L.

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leachate. Various organic pollutants were identifiedand heavy metal such as zinc. The pH ranged from 8.58to 8.72, which were within allowed limit (5.5–9). Thiswas in accordance with the Environmental QualityAct of 1974 of Malaysia and also agreed with previousstudies carried out by (Bashir et al. 2009). However,other parameters such as the ammonia nitrogen, zinc,and nitrite have their values much higher than thepermissible limits of the Environmental Quality Actof 1974. Ammonia nitrogen, zinc, and nitrite values,which ranged from 1070 to 1810, 5.4 to 11.1, and 93.3to 193 mg/L were much higher than the maximumpermissible limits of 1 to 1500, 1.0 to 2.0, and 0.01to 25 mg/L, respectively, and did not conform tothe standard and, hence, were considered toxic. TotalKjeldahl nitrogen and phosphate had values rangingfrom 1120 to 1182.72 and 31.2 to 46.4 mg/L, whichwere also higher than the maximum permissible limitsof 80 to 120 and 0.1 to 2.0 mg/L, respectively (Table 1).The quality of leachate was found to have exceeded thedischarge limit and did not comply with environmentalquality (sewage and industrial effluents) regulations.

Preliminary Study for Nutrient andHeavy Metal Removal

This study was carried out to determine thepollutants reduction process through plant uptake,nitrification, as well as denitrification. As for the plantcharacteristics, the greatest relative growth (1.03) wasfound in the plant grown in nutrient solution, whereasthe lowest was observed at plant grown in deionized(DI) water. Plant grown in leachate sample (B1) and

nutrient solution (B2) showed increment in freshweight by 2.41% and 2.49%, respectively, whereasplant grown in DI water without any nutrient supply(B3) showed declined in fresh weight by 52.7%. Dry-ness of Eichhornia crassipes leaves was manifested on thethird day into the experiment in DI water due to lackof nutrient and may dry off completely within a week(Table 2). The results indicated the necessity of waterand nutrients to plants to support their growth. Morethan 95% of water is contained in Eichhornia crassipes,as mentioned by Ebel, Michael, and Evangelou (2007),who reported that the composition of fresh plantmatter included about 80% to 95% of water.

NutrientsAmmonia Nitrogen

The planted medium exhibited more significant re-moval of ammonia nitrogen in the planted mediumfor leachate sample and nutrient solution, 398.57 and369.52 mg/L, respectively (Table 3), when comparedwith the unplanted medium. The values were, how-ever, less than the ones reported by Bashir et al. (2010)on the same leachate from the landfill. This removalmay be due to the biological mechanism of plant up-take in planted system, which could enhance the ad-sorption of ammonia. For the planted medium, moreammonia was removed, probably due to higher ni-trifying bacterial grown and accumulated. Plants takeup inorganic nitrogen as NO3

− or NH4+ ions fixed

by symbiotic bacteria (Tomoyuki and Oaks 2004).The unplanted medium may not be enough to pro-vide the accumulated bacteria required for conducting

TABLE 2 Relative Growth and Biomass Productivity of Plant after Experiment

Day of sample measurement Pot with leachate and plant (B1)Pot with nutrient

solution and plant (B2) Pot with DI water and plant (B3)

Day 1 (IFW) 204.75 203.25 202.45Day 2 205.74 201.38 202.34Day 3 206.31 204.74 196.38Day 4 207.44 206.12 200.14Day 5 208.53 206.86 184.43Day 6 210.03 208.38 131.29Day 7 (FFW) 209.81 208.44 132.61Increase/loss in weight (%) 2.41 2.49 −52.70Relative growth 1.02 1.03 0.66Dry weight (g) 9.11 9.56 7.29Biomass productivity (%) 1.25 1.31 1.0

Note. Plant labeled as B3 was taken as control plant. Except otherwise stated, all units are g/L.IFW = initial fresh weight; FFW = final fresh weight.

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TABLE 3 Average Measured Values of the Nutrients and Zinc for Both Planted and Unplanted Media

Sample B1 B2 B3 R1 R2 R3

Ammonia 398.57 369.52 32.58 454.76 598.09 0.28Nitrate 2.64 8.04 1.11 3.45 9.67 0.73TKN 103.17 93.63 6.85 109.12 101.12 1.28Phosphate 7.42 8.79 0.64 9.76 11.60 0.21Zinc 0.31 0.08 0.08 0.51 0.06 0.00

Note. Except otherwise stated, all units are mg/L.

nitrification process. The increase in ammonia concen-tration in DI water might be due to decomposition ofdead Eichhornia crassipes. However, when the Leachatewas treated with Eichhornia crassipes, there was a mea-sured decrease in ammonia concentrations with time inthe planted and the unplanted medium (Figure 1). Thereduction in non-ionized ammonia was probably be-cause of more nitrifying bacteria growing and accumu-lating in the bed of the planted medium. This indicatedthat for ammonia removal, the p value of .01 was higherin plant than control. The results showed good agree-ment with Bashir et al. (2010) who maintained thatits high concentration led to algal growth, decreasedperformance of biological treatment systems, acceler-ated eutrophication, dissolved oxygen depletion, andincreased toxicity of living organisms in water bodies.It was further remarked that ammonia removal has be-come an important concern in leachate, since its levelcontinues to be dangerous and poisonous over long pe-riods (Bashir et al. 2010). These were recorded from 49days of experimentation.

Nitrate

The total quantities of nitrate removed were higherin the planted medium (2.64 mg/L in leachate and8.04 mg/L in nutrient) when compared with the un-planted medium (Table 3). The amounts of nitrate ac-cumulated were still greater in the unplanted mediumwhen compared with the planted one; Aghamoham-madi et al. (2007) and Salem et al. (2008) recordedsimilar values, respectively. This may be due to the ef-fect of plant uptake in the vegetated systems which wasmore significant than the nonvegetated ones for nitrateremoval. It was remarked by Ghaly, Kamal, and Mah-mound (2005) that between 91.9% and 98.2% of nitritewere converted to nitrate, and nitrate concentration inthe final effluent was small due to absorption of ni-trate by plants. In this study, there was slight increasein concentration and this may be due to the rate ofnitrate uptake by plant that was slower than the nitri-fication process. When E. crassipes was introduced intothe leachate, the concentration of nitrate was increasedwith time for both with plant and without plant sample

FIGURE 1 Ammonia reduction in leachate as growth medium (color figure available online).

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FIGURE 2 Nitrate reduction in leachate as growth medium (color figure available online).

medium (Figure 2). The quantities of nitrate accumu-lated were greater in the unplanted pot than the plantedone. This indicated that nitrate had been taken up bywater hyacinth in the planted pot. The p value obtainedin nitrate removal was .07, which indicated significantdifference between the phytoremediation technologyand the control. Nitrate had a p value of .000, which re-vealed a significance difference between nitrite removalfor planted and unplanted treatment. However, theseresults disagreed with those of Ghaly, Kamal, and Mah-mound (2005) who remarked that the concentrationof nitrate nitrogen in the final effluent was small, butagreed with Tchobanoglous, Theisen, and Vigil (1993)who reported that typical nitrate concentration valuesof 25 and 5–10 mg/L for new (less than 2 years) and ma-ture landfills (greater than 10 years), respectively, couldbe available.

Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN)

The TKN values for both planted and unplanted sys-tems decreased with time when measured daily but thedecrease was higher in the planted medium than theunplanted ones (103.17 mg/L in B1 and 109.12 mg/Lin R1) (Table 3). This was a clear indication that theTKN concentration in the planted medium was greaterthan in the unplanted ones. This indicated that moreammonia was removed due to more nitrifying bacteria,which could grow and accumulate in vegetated systems.It was reported that ammonia nitrogen would be themost significant nitrogen contributor (Chet 2005). The

trend of TKN in this study was found almost similarwith the trend of ammonia nitrogen in both plantedand unplanted systems. The measured value of ammo-nia was greater than TKN level. This was lower thanvalues obtained by Ziyang et al. (2009), but higher thanthe values obtained by Akinbile and Yusoff (2012) fromaquaculture wastewater.

Phosphate

Plants absorbed inorganic phosphate (PO3−4 ) from

their growth medium. From Table 3, phosphate con-centration decreased with time in the planted systems,with 7.42 mg/L average value for leachate sample and8.79 mg/L for nutrient solution. The values 109.12 and101.12 mg/L were observed average values for leachateand nutrient samples in the unplanted medium. It wasreported that less than 7% of the original amount ofP supplied to the plants was detected in the remainingsolution (Polomski et al. 2009). Depletion of P in thegravel-only pots could have resulted from assimilationby the thin film of algae present or microorganisms thatwere present near the gravel surface. However, when thephytoremediator was introduced, the phosphate levelwas found to decrease significantly from 4.4 to 0.6 mg/Lin pot containing E. crassipes and leachate and 4.4 to 2.2mg/L in the other pot with leachate only (Figure 3). Thep value obtained for phosphate removal was .001, whichshowed significant difference between the planted andunplanted systems. Phosphorus was considered to be amajor growth-limiting nutrient in aquatic systems. Plant

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FIGURE 3 Phosphate reduction in leachate as growth medium (color figure available online).

uptake phosphorus in inorganic forms (PO3−4 ) and re-

moval of phosphate agreed with the study by Mant etal. (2003), which achieved 90.6% phosphorus removalusing S. viminalis grown in gravel hydroponic system totreat primary settled sewage wastewater.

Heavy Metal—ZincZinc concentration for leachate sample with water

hyacinth in the planted medium was 0.3 mg/L. How-ever, in nutrient and control, it was very low, with valueof 0.08 mg/L, and was not found in the unplantedmedium (Table 3). The reason might be the release ofthis element from the decomposition of dead plants.According to the Malaysian standards, zinc concentra-tion in landfill leachate is within acceptable levels (1–2mg/L) and the observed decrease was due to age ofthe landfill where leachate becomes more of a stabi-lizer and the introduction of a phytoremediator. Zincin soluble forms was readily available to plants andthe uptake of zinc has been reported to be linear withconcentration in the nutrient solution and in soils. Therate of zinc absorption differs greatly among both plantspecies and growth medium (Alina 2001). However, forthe medium sample with water hyacinth as phytoreme-diator, zinc concentration exhibited obvious reductioncompared with the pot without the plant (Figure 4).Greater reduction in Zn concentration was observed insamples with both plant and leachate (1.1 to 0.1 mg/L)when compared with samples without it (1.1 to 0.8

mg/L) (Figure 4). This inferred that the removal of zincby water hyacinth in present study was higher and thisagreed with Mishra and Tripathi (2009), who obtainedvalues between 88% and 94% of zinc removal in a11-day incubation period. For zinc, the p value obtainedfrom the study was 0.000, which indicated significancedifference between the concentration of zinc left in thegrowth medium for planted and unplanted conditions.It was also confirmed by Mahamadi and Nharingo(2010) in their studies that both living and dead Eich-hornia crassipes can remove zinc and other heavy metalssuch as Pb and Cd to 95%. Also, Liao and Chang (2004)and Baldwin and Butcher (2007) reported from their re-spective studies that water hyacinth could convenientlyremove heavy metals such as Zn, Cd, Pb, Ar, and Ni,more from liquid than from sediment and is fairly ableto remove Cu. The study proved that water hyacinth isa good accumulator, as mentioned in Mishra and Tri-pathi (2009). Water hyacinth has successfully removedup to 94% of zinc metal in the landfill leachate.

Nutrient and Heavy Metal RemovalEfficiency

Figure 5 showed the removal efficiency of total ni-trogen, phosphate, and zinc for planted and unplantedsystems in leachate and nutrient growth medium.The removal efficiency of B1, R1, B2, and R2 were28.95%, 5.74%, 29.39%, and 7.37%, respectively. Theremoval efficiency of TN for both growth media with

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FIGURE 4 Zinc reduction in leachate as growth medium (color figure available online).

Eichhornia crassipes was greater than the medium with-out any plant due to plant uptake. In Zalem et al. (2008),it was remarked that Mant et al. (2003) achieved 57.7%nitrogen removal using Salix vimiralis grown in gravelhydroponic system to treat primary settled sewagewastewater. The removal efficiency of nitrogenous com-pound in this study was less than those reported inthe literature. The removal efficiency of phosphate forB1, R1, B2, and R2 were 44.08%, −2.28%, 50.36%,and 7.18%. The negative value for R1 growth mediummay be due to transformation of other forms of P tophosphate. This study confirmed that water hyacinth

was good in uptake of inorganic phosphate (PO43−). It

was mentioned by Baldwin and Butcher (2007) thatphytoremediation could promote the removal of Nand P and thus control the internal pollution of themedium. The highest removal efficiency was foundin B1 medium, which was 77.02% and the lowest ob-tained by R2, −12.50%. The negative value obtainedmay be due to human error or contaminated apparatuswhile conducting the laboratory analysis. The removalof heavy metal by water hyacinth in present study washigh and this is in agreement with Mishra and Tripathi(2009).

FIGURE 5 Removal efficiency of TN, phosphate, and zinc for planted and unplanted systems in leachate and in nutrient growth medium(color figure available online).

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TABLE 4 Concentrations (mg/g) of Nutrient and Heavy Metal in Eichhornia Crassipes

Zinc Phosphate Nitrogen

Root Shoot Total Root Shoot Total Root Shoot Total

B1 0.44 0.11 0.55 0.29 0.11 0.40 10.87 14.53 25.40B2 0.22 0.06 0.28 0.54 0.11 0.64 10.20 18.82 29.03B3 0.06 0.03 0.09 0.16 0.09 0.25 12.27 5.26 17.53

FIGURE 6 Removal efficiency of nutrients and heavy metal for leachate sample for planted and unplanted systems (color figureavailable online).

Plant AnalysisConcentration of total nitrogen, phosphate, and

zinc accumulated in plant are shown in Table 4. InPolomski et al. (2009), it was remarked that mineralconcentrations were typically reported in wetland plantnutrient recovery research, although the contents orthe weights of nutrients reflect differences for plantsaccumulated nutrient. Concentrations of total nitrogenin shoot were greater than in root for pot B1 andB2 but B3 showed contrary results. The experimentalresults for B1 and B2 showed good agreement with thestudy carried out by Polomski et al. (2009). Phosphateconcentration was found higher in root than shootfor present study, which was different from the resultsreported by Polomski et al. (2009), who observed thatP accumulation was evenly distributed between rootsand shoots. The Eichhornia crassipes zinc concentrationswere comparable to values reported in Mishra and Tri-pathi (2009). The macrophyte was reported as a goodaccumulator by accumulated zinc up to 3.54 mg/g atmetal concentration of 10 mg/L after 11 days exposure.

Removal Efficiency of Nutrient and HeavyMetal

Figure 6 showed the removal efficiency (%) of nu-trients and heavy metal for leachate sample in plantedand unplanted systems. All parameters, namely, nitrite,ammonia, phosphate, and zinc in planted system weregreater than those in unplanted system. The removalefficiency for nitrite in planted and unplanted systemswere 63.79% and 10.34%, with about 53.45% differ-ence, whereas the difference in ammonia and phos-phate reduction were 30.61% and 35.77%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThis study has established that the capability of

Eichhornia crassipes in nutrients and heavy metalsremoval from leachate in PBLS was excellent and feasi-ble. The statistical analyses have also shown significantdifferences in the removal of ammonia nitrogen, ni-trate nitrogen, phosphate, and zinc in the planted andunplanted growth medium. The removal efficiencies

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of leachate contaminants were found greater in plantedpot than the unplanted one. Nitrification process wasaccelerated in the planted medium due to the biolog-ical mechanism. More nitrifying bacteria could stillbe grown and accumulate as plants take up inorganicnitrogen as NO−

3 or NH+4 ions fixed by symbiotic

bacteria. Eichhornia crassipes was found good enoughto grow in the leachate sample that was diluted to 1:10and its relative growth in the leachate medium was 1.06with the exception of phosphate, which may limit algaegrowth and interfere with coagulation in freshwatersystems. A better understanding and control of theincoming raw landfill leachate was required to giveinformation during operation of the systems. The useof other varieties of plant species could be investigatedto determine their optimum suitability in treatinglandfill leachate such as Cyperus rotundus. Longer-scalestudies should be done in order to determine thefullest capacity of phytoremediation in pollutantremoval.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors are most grateful to the Third World

Academy of Science (TWAS) for providing 1-year post-doctoral fellowship for Dr. Christopher OluwakunmiAKINBILE (FR Number: 3240223476) and UniversitiSains Malaysia (USM) to enable him to utilize the fel-lowship in conducting this study at USM.

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