A Systematic Review on Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a Biosorbent of Cadmium

Water hyacinth has gained a noteworthy reputation as the worst invasive macrophyte for its alarming proliferation rates, threatening transportation and irrigation systems and ecosystem biodiversity. Sustainable efforts have found the plant to demonstrate efficiency in sequestering toxic heavy metals such as cadmium from marine environments. Cadmium presence in water, primarily caused by anthropogenic sources, poses public health risks due to its toxicity. Consequently, studies on the applications of Eichhornia crassipes and the removal of cadmium have become active research areas in recent decades. This review presents literature related to the Cd sorption capacity of water hyacinth biosorbents. The effects and optimization of parameters including treatment, temperature, pH, initial sorbate and sorbent concentration have been explored in classical and competitive adsorption models. Investigations on kinetics, equilibrium, and desorption studies have also been conducted. From the gathered literature, water hyacinth biosorbents show potential for industrial-scale applications, but its metal recovery and utilization in multi-metal and continuous sorption may require further evaluation