Abstract

Copper (II) is one of the most prevalent heavy metals that contribute to the contamination of our water bodies nowadays. However, the uncontrolled and excessive use of copper in the Philippines leads to widespread contamination in our water — on the other hand, treatment of copper contamination tends to be expensive and demanding. A more practical solution to this is phytoremediation, a low-cost bioremediation technique that uses biological organisms for the removal of pollutants in their surroundings. Some plants have the capability to absorb heavy metals while some do not. Heartleaf Philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum) comes from a family that has shown the ability to absorb heavy metals. In the study, the researchers determined P. hederaceum’s rhizofiltration capabilities, a type of phytoremediation technique using hydroponics to remove pollutants from a plant’s roots. The group ascertain if whether absorb copper with a fixed concentration of 50 ppm from synthetic wastewater, under a time variation of 24 hours, 6 days, 9 days, and 15 days. Using one-way ANOVA, the group found a significant difference, and using Post-hoc analysis, was able to further pinpoint that the statistical significance was between the copper absorbed by the plant in the 24 hours and 15 days.  This suggests that P. hederaceum may be used in rhizofiltration to remove copper from an aqueous solution.  

Key Words: Copper, Philodendron hederaceum,  Rhizofiltration, Time variation