BIOCONCENTRATION FACTOR

Table 4 shows the bioconcentration factor of P. hederaceum on a set interval of days. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) is the heavy metal concentration present in the plant biomass, P. hederaceum, divided by the initial concentration of heavy metal in the synthetic wastewater, 50 ppm. BCF is used as an important parameter in phytoremediation studies to determine information on the heavy metal uptake of plant, metal mobilization into the plant tissues, and storage of metal in the shoot parts (Maiti, 2022).  In this study, the researchers utilized the bioconcentration factor to determine the plant's ability to absorb copper given a fixed amount of heavy metal per sample. Based on the table, the highest bioconcentration factor for copper was observed on the plant samples subjected to the synthetic wastewater for 15 days, with values of 0.1277, 0.2017, and 0.2723. This indicates that the phytoremediation potential of P. hederaceum is most observed on the 15th-day interval. Although showing absorption capabilities, P. hederaceum cannot be considered a hyperaccumulator because it did not have a BCF higher than one, with its maximum BCF at 0.2723 (Usman, 2019).
 

Compared to studies that tested the phytoremediation properties of other species in the Araceae family, P. hederaceum doesn’t appear to be a good hyperaccumulator of copper in water. A study conducted by Zayed et. al. in 1998 stated that Duckweed (Lemna minor L.), a species in the Araceae family that grows mostly in still water, was able to absorb 3360 mg/kg Cu when subjected to a solution with a concentration of 10 mg/L Cu for 8 days. This yielded a maximum bioconcentration factor value of 336 L/kg, significantly 0.0810% higher than the maximum BCF value of P. hederaceum of 0.2723 L/kg.