Degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Soil Leachate by Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

The ability of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to adsorped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated soil leachate was examined. Results obtained from analysis using GC/FID indicated that naphthalene (8.350 ?g/g) was the overall highest polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon adsorped at pH 4.0, while pyrene (0.057 ?g/g) was the least adsorped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon overall at pH 6.0. In ascending the pH from 2.0 to 6.0, there wasn’t any trend observed in PAH degradation, though, it was noted that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degradation increased from pH 2.0 to 4.0, and then, sharply decreased at pH 6.0. This results thus lend credence to the fact that E. crassipes is a potential phytoremediator in removing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from contaminated waste streams.