Capacidad de remoción de macroelementos, aniones, boro y metales pesados de Hydrocharis laevigata

Hydrocharis laevigata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Byng & Christenh., is a floating aquatic plant that presents characteristics of interest for its application in phytoremediation, forage of aquatic organisms, and carbon capture, given its rapid growth, high biomass production, and high potential for bioaccumulation of pollutants. The objective of this work was to evaluate and quantify the removal capacity of H. laevigata for macroelements, anions, boron and heavy metals under laboratory conditions. Two treatments with densities of 50% to 70% of vegetal biomass of carrying capacity were used. The variation of the substance in the water (ΔMA, mg/L), the removal rate (TR, mg L-1 day-1), the removal efficiency (ER, %) and the relative growth rate (TCR) were analyzed. It was determined that the species removed Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, NO3-, Cl-, Mg, Ca, Na and K. There were no differences between the two treatments for ER% and RT, there was an ER% < 50% for Cu, Fe, NO3-, Cl-, Ca, Na and K; and an ER% > 50% for Mn (80%) and Zn (70%-72%). The TCR in the T50 treatment (0.06) was higher than in the T70 treatment (0.03). The results show the ability of H. laevigata to remove multiple metals simultaneously, which suggests that this species has potential for phytoremediation.