Removal of Arsenic by Phytoremediation-A Study of Two Plant Spices

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element widely distributed in the earth's crust. Arsenic is very toxic when found in large quantities of drinking water. In countries around the world, particularly some part of India and Bangladesh, arsenic contaminates the groundwater supply. Removal of arsenic by conventional method is very costly, this paper focuses the method of phytoremediation to remove arsenic from soil. This method is being aesthetically pleasing and is on average tenfold cheaper than other physical, chemical or thermal remediation methods. Pteris Vittata and Vettiver Grass were chosen for the laboratory study, growth of these plants were observed in different concentration of arsenic contained soil by using sodium arsenate at different concentrations of 10-50 mg As/kg soil. The accumulation of arsenic in leaves, steam and ischolar_main were analyzed at time interval of 15, 30, 45 and 60 days. It was observed that all the plants were survived in the varied concentration of arsenic and the results of the study were encouraging. When they were harvested and tested, results showed that these plants can accumulate significant amount of Arsenic in soil.