Effect of Physical and Chemical Treatments on the Electrical and Structural Properties of Water Hyacinth

ABSTRACT

Water hyacinths are aquatic plants that indicate a capability for pollutants uptake. Recently, further efforts have been made to increase the capacity of the plant to remediate the pollutants. Water hyacinth roots and shoots were analyzed using FTIR spectroscopy, XRF, and electrical investigations. Results of XRF analyses indicate that except for Sr, CaO, Na2O, and K2O, the level of metals as well as metal oxides are higher in plant root. FTIR measurements indicate that there are some similarities between the shoot and root molecular structures, with higher intensities in the shoot. Both plant parts were subjected to microwave heating up to 40 minutes at 450 and 900 Watt. A change in the crystallinity index resulted due to the microwave heating. Treating the plant with different concentrations of acetic acid and reaction time showed that the maximum degree of acetylation was at 0.05 N acetic acid for 19.0 hours. D-Gauss BLYP/DZVP indicates a change in the calculated dipole moment as a result of the treatment of the plant with acetic acid. The permittivity, dielectric loss, electric loss modulus, and AC conductivity of all samples were investigated in the frequency range between 42 and 106 Hz at room temperature. These properties showed slight increase in case of control root samples compared to control shoot samples. However, two distinct relaxation processes were observed in the electrical loss modulus of these samples. The permittivity of root and shoot were considerably affected by microwave heating. It was also found that AC conductivity of water hyacinth plant showed relative increase by treating it with acetic acid at concentrations higher than 0.05 N for 19 h. This can be considered as optimum conditions needed for water hyacinth plant to uptake more metal ions from wastewater.