AACL Bioflux, vol: 11,3 (2018)
Effectiveness and efficiency of the red seaweed Gracilaria verrucosa as biofilter in Pb absorption in seawater
Supriyantini E., Soenardjo N., Santosa G.W., Ridlo A., Sedjati S., Ambariyanto A.
Abstract
Waste, containing heavy metals from industries and other anthropogenic activities are mostly disposed into waters without any treatments, resulting in an increase in heavy metal concentrations. Algae, such as Gracilaria verrucosa, are known to have to ability to absorb heavy metal and function as biofilter. This study investigates the effectiveness and efficiency of G. verrucosa to absorb heavy metal at various concentrations and at a given exposure period. The experiment used a completely randomized design with 2 factors in 3 replications. First factor was Pb concentrations, namely: 0.0, 0.06, 0.6, 6.0 ppm, whereas the other factor was different time of exposure, namely: 7, 14, 21, 28 days. Data were analyzed statistically with Anova followed by Tukey Test. Results showed that concentration and incubation period influenced algal absorption of Pb. As much as 75.28% of Pb was efficiently absorbed by the red algae during 28 days exposure time with Pb added media by bioabsorption capacity 0.084 mg.g-1. This result suggested that red alga G. verrucosa can be applied as biofilter for Pb in seawater. © 2018, BIOFLUX SRL. All rights reserved.
Keyword: Absorption capacity; Efficiency; Heavy metal Pb; Macroalgae