Affiliations 

  • 1 a Department of Biochemistry , Periyar University , Salem , India
  • 2 b Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security (IPASA), Research Institute for Sustainable Environment (RISE) , Universiti Teknologi Malaysia , Skudai , Malaysia
  • 3 c Department of Environmental Science , Periyar University , Salem , Tamil Nadu , India
Environ Technol, 2018 Jun;39(11):1376-1383.
PMID: 28488473 DOI: 10.1080/09593330.2017.1329355

Abstract

The aqueous extract of various plants like Coriandrum sativum (AECS), Alternanthera tenella colla (AEAT), Spermacoce hispida (AESH) and Mollugo verticillata (AEMV) was studied for its hexavalent chromium (CrVI) reduction property. Even though antioxidant activity was present, AEAT, AESH and AEMV did not reduce CrVI. AECS showed rapid and dose-dependent CrVI reduction. The efficient reduction of 50 mg/L of CrVI using AECS was attained in the presence of 250 µg/mL of starting plant material, incubating the reaction mixture at pH 2, 30°C and agitation at 190 rpm. Under such conditions, about 40 mg/L of CrVI was reduced at 3 h of incubation. FT-IR analysis revealed the involvement of phenols, alcohols, alpha-hydroxy acid and flavonoids present in the AECS for the CrVI reduction. These results indicate that not all the plant extracts with rich antioxidants are capable of reducing CrVI. Using the conditions standardized in the present study, AECS reduced about 80% of CrVI present in the tannery effluent. These results signify the application of AECS as an eco-friendly method in the wastewater treatment.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.