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Arsenic Uptake from Arsenic-Contaminated Water Using Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L.: Effect of Chloride, Bicarbonate, and Arsenic Species

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Abstract

High As groundwater normally contained high concentrations of Cl− and HCO −3 . This study examined the effects of Cl−, HCO −3 , and As species on As uptake by hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata. Plants were exposed hydroponically to 5.0 mg/L As(III) or As(V) in the presence of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 mM of Cl− or HCO −3 for 10 days. Addition of high Cl− concentrations (>10 mM) slightly inhibited P. vittata growth (biomass), while generally had no significant effect on plant As uptake. High solution pH resulted in reduced plant growth and As uptake, which attributed to the inhibitory effects in HCO −3 treatments with the high pH of the high HCO −3 concentration. It was speculated that addition of HCO −3 (<20 mM) would have no significant effect on plant growth and As uptake. The inhibitory effect of HCO −3 on As translocation was less apparent in the As(III) solutions than the As(V) solutions. For the high As groundwater with As(III) as the predominant species, high pH, instead of high concentrations HCO −3 and Cl−, was expected to inhibit As uptake. The results suggested that optimum plant growth and maximum As hyperaccumulation could be achieved by adjusting solution pH in the growth media (around 7.2).

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Acknowledgments

The study has been financially supported by the Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project, Ministry of Education of China (no. 708012) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 41172224 and 40872160).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Huaming Guo, Zhennan Zhong, Xiaolei Xue & Junying Zhao

  2. School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Huaming Guo

  3. Center for Environmental Remediation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Mei Lei, Xiaoming Wan & Tongbin Chen

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  1. Huaming Guo
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  2. Zhennan Zhong
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Correspondence to Huaming Guo.

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Guo, H., Zhong, Z., Lei, M. et al. Arsenic Uptake from Arsenic-Contaminated Water Using Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L.: Effect of Chloride, Bicarbonate, and Arsenic Species. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 4209–4220 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-012-1185-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-012-1185-6

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