Ogunlade, Y.

English

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NOTES ON UTILIZATION OF WATER HYACINTH
(Eiclilwrnia crassipes) AS A MEANS OF POLLUTION
CONTROL
Y. OGUNLADE
Department of Chemistry,
Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
The potentials of water hyacinth EicIihornia crasstpes), a vibrant, prolific, free
floating weed which invaded Nigerian waterways almost one and half decades ago cannot
be undervalued. This paper presents various ways in which the plant (though a menace in
various communities where it exists) can be utdised. Attention is focussed on the
analytical investigation of the plant with a view to highlighting its usefulness as an
effective mopping agent and scavenger of toxic elements in the nation's aquatic
environment where both industrial and domestic efiluents accumuthie.
II'TRODUCTION
Water hyacinth (.Eichhornia crassipes)
Marts (Soims) is a freefloating annual
aquatic weed. The plant was reported to be
native to South America and possibly
some of the Caribbean Islands (Bock,
1966). Its spread to different parts of the
world such as United States of America,
Bengal, Java, Indonesia, Sudan and
Senegal is surrounded with various tales.
Nigeria became a victim of water
hyacinth invasions in 1984 when the weed
was carried by current into Nigerian
waterways from the neighbouring
79
Republic of Benin via Badagry creeks. It
has since invaded most of the creeks and
inlets, blocking waterways, causing
problems in water transportation, fishing
and other commercial activities whose
survival depend upon water as in Figure 1.
The plant is also a breeding ground for
many insects and molluscs which are
vectors of diseases like bilharzia, river
blindness and malaria (Philip, 1981).
The high infestation of water hyacinth
though an economic disaster to Nigeria as
a nation, the rapid growth of the plant
coupled with its composition could be
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utilised for some beneficial uses (iv) Fertilisers: The C/N ratio (24-29) of
(Ogunlade, 1992). Some of these uses
include:
(i) Animal Feed: The dearth of animal
protein with increasing cost of food
production coupled with rapid
population growth necessitate the
search for non-conventional sources
of protein such as leaf protein
concentrates (LPC) from water
hyacinth (Ogunlade, 1992). The plant
in combination with concentrates of
other feeds have proved to be of good
quaUty protein source for annual feed
(Oke, 1973).
(ii) Paper and Board Manufacture:
Since water hyacinth gives an easily
digestible pulp, it serves as a readily
available raw material for
manufacturing of paper and boards.
This has been substantiated by various
works (Hannah, 1988; Udohitinah and
Aladesulu, 1988).
(iii)Biogas: The incessant shortage of
petroleum products especially cooking
gas and fuel can be a thing of the past,
if water hyacinth can be fully utilised
as biogas. Haripada et al (1983)
reported that the leaves, which
constitute greater effective mass than,
stalk and root, could be used for gas
production. Also, Faborode (1988)
reported the use of briquettes and
wafers made from water hyacinth
from domestic and rural agro-
industrial fuel applications.
81
water hyacinth indicates that for-
mation of organic matter consists of
better humic fertilizer. The root
extract- of the plant was reported to aid
crop reduction in a number of
economic species such as Corchorus
capsularies. This was confirmed by
Oso (1988) by the production of liquid
fertiliser from water hyacinth which
enhanced the growth of okra and
Ainaranthus seedlings when applied
as a top dressing.
(v) Active Carbon: This can be prepared
from water hyacinth (Ahined et a17
1983). The carbon when impregnated
with ZnCI2 is suitable for decolo-
nisation purposes in pharmaceutical
industries and for general application.
Although several authors have worked
on the economic uses of water
hyacinth, the prolific nature of
reproduction and rapid propagation of
the plant justifies its utilisation in the
21St century.
The increasing rate of urbanisa-
tion and industrialisation processes
around the globe coupled with the
resultant pollution problems call for
an inexpensive means of pollution
control of which water hyacinth could
be effectively utilised for, in a deve-
loping nation such as Nigeria. Hence,
the main thrust of this paper is to
analyse the plant — water hyacinth for
its potential as a mopping agent and
scavenger of heavy arid toxic elements
in industrial and domestic effluents.
EXPERIMENTAL
Eichhornia crassipes (Mart) plants
were randomly sampled in Badagry
Creeks in Lagos State and Igbokoda
waterways in Ondo State for a period of
two years at different seasons in the
months of January, March, June,
September and December. The plants
were transported in jute bags and reached
the laboratory within few hours of
collection where they were further
processed immediately.
One (1) kilogram of dried sample was
ashed in a muffle furnace at 550C for five
hours in a pre-weighed crucible. The
weight difference gave the organic matter
and the difference in weight between the
ashed sample and the crucible gave the
weight of ash.
Ashed samples were further digested
with 2N HCL diluted to lOOmi and used
for mineral analysis on the Atomic
Absorption Spectro-photometer (Perkin
Elmer 306).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The heavy metals and toxic element
contents of E. crassipes expressed on dry
matter basis were as shown in Table 1.
These values were found to vary
slightly in the samples from Badagry
water. One way analysis of variance
showed that the values of Cu, Cr and Fe
were significant at P <0.001 while that of
Pb was significant at P <0.05.
The ash content was high, ranging
from 12.04% in the leaf blade to 19.03%
in the roots and 16.10% for petiole. This
suggests that the plant is rich in minerals.
The values are comparable with the 12 —
18.4% findings of Ohosh et al (1983).
R.achet et al (1983) reported that water
hyacinth plants are able to absorb heavy
metals such as Cd, Hg, Ni. Also Becker et
al (1984) reports confirmed that the plant
has the capacity to accumulate heavy
metals at no detriment to itself
The results of heavy metals were in
conformity with the report of McDonald
(1975) that for every gramme of water
hyacinth dry matter, heavy metals
Table 1 Heavy Metals in Eichlwriiia crassipes (nig/g dry wt
Sample Cd Cu Cr Fe Nr Pb
Leaf-blades 1.16±038 3.67± 1.53 1.09± 1.08 34.77*3.99 2.69±0.79 23.l2±4.74
Petioles 2.48± 1.37 2.87±0.30 1.90±2.27 139.98±5.09 2.36±2.87 12.83±8.91
Roots 1.81 —0.88 13.45 ± 3.37 17.53 ± 6.42 120,17±41.08 5.32 ± 2.07 43.00± 18.59
P NS 0.001 0.001 0.001 NS 0.05
All figures are expressed as mean values of triplicate detehninations with their standard
deviation in parentheses P = Probability; NS =Not Sign ifi cant
82
occurred in varying amounts as Cd (0.67
mg); Ni (0.06 mg); Pb (0.176 mg). These
are metals that can have toxic effect on
both aquatic organisms and their
consumers especially man, due to
bioaccumulatiou and biolomagnification.
CONCLUSION
Water hyacinth is in no doubt a
menace in Nigeria waterways but the
analytical investigation of the plant
showed accumulation of heavy metals like
Ph, Cr, Cu, Cd and Ni in both the leaf
blade, petiole and root of the plant. This
indicates that the plant is a scavenger of
toxic elements and moping agent for these
heavy metals which are present in both
industrial and municipal effluents of the
nation's aquatic environments.
REFERENCES
A,O.A.C (1980). Association of Official
Analytical ChemisLv. Washington' DC.
Vol.53.
Abmed, M.A., Naim, R. Nahtab (1983).
Preparation and Evaluation of Active
carbon from water hyacinth. UNEP
Reports and Proceedings Series 7,
Water Flyacinth. 78 — 792
Becker, LLG.(1984. The Genetics of
Colonising Species Academic Press,
N.Y. 147— 172.
83.
Bock, JJL (1966). An ecological study
of E. crassipes with special emphasis
on its reproductive biology. Ph.D
Thesis, University of California.
Berkely. 186 p.
FaborOde, M.O. (1988). Briquetting
water hyacinth for domestic and rural
agro-industrial fuel application. The
Proceedings qf the International
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hyacinth, Lagos, 7 j2th August. 179
— 183.
Ghosh, S.R., D.C. Saida, P.G. Ohaina
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Cited in UTh'EP Proceedings.
Haripada, S.K., A. Hague, A.F.M. Alan
and R. Islam (1983). Biogas from
water hyacinth and cowdung. UNEP
Reports and Proceedings, Series 7,
Water Hyacinth.
McDonald, R. C ('1975c,). Water hya-
cinths for upgrading sewage lagoons
to meet advanced waste water treat-
ment standard. Part 1. NASA-TM-X.
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Ogunlade, Y. (1992). Chemical and
nutritional evaluation of water
hyacinth in Nigeria waterways. Ph.D
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Ile-Ife.
Oke, O.L. (1973). Leaf protein research in
Nigeria: A Review. Trop. Sci. 1. 15:
135 — 155.
Oso, B.A. (1988). Invasion of Nigerian
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Ecological and Biological
observations. The Proceedings of the
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Philip, 0. (1981). Water hyacinth
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Rachel, S.B., Y. Abdullahi and Si.
Haider (1983). Uses of water
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UNEP Reports and Proceedings,
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Udoltitinali, J.S. and I. Aladesulu
(1988, Production of medium density
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Notes on utilization of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a means of pollution control

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Notes on utilization of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a means of pollution control

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