Abstract
In the world, a large part of the wastewater is not previously treated, resulting in the contamination of water resources. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes as sorbents in the treatment of Pb, Cu and Zn in wastewater from the community of Cashaucro located in Oyón, Peru at 3600 masl. To evaluate the biosorption of the macrophytes, 6 glass cuvettes were used with concentrations of 750 mg/L of zinc, 25 mg/L of copper and 62.5 mg/L of lead. The treatment was carried out for 15 days and physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature were monitored every week. According to the results obtained, the best removals for copper, lead and zinc were achieved with the macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes, with values of 99.86, 99.89 and 29.45%, respectively. On the other hand, values higher than 90% were achieved in the improvement of physicochemical parameters. Finally, the study showed that floating macrophytes are good adsorbents of heavy metals and could be used as an alternative for improving water quality due to their low cost.
