METALS AND ORGANIC POLLUTANTS REMOVAL FROM WASTEWATER BY LOCAL LEMNA MINOR GENOTYPE

Lemna minor was collected from a local pond from the Floresti area, Cluj county. The plants were left for vegetative multiplication, and then analyzed in order to investigate their ability to reduce the pollutants from wastewater. The untreated wastewater contained high concentrations of As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn, Al, Ca, Fe, Mg, Na, low concentrations of Ba, Be, Ca, Fe, Hg, Li, Rb, Se, Sr, Sn, Ti, V and high levels of organic pollutants. The results showed that the Lemna minor genotype has a high potential to reduce the totally oxidizable organic pollutants from the wastewater with 65%. Lemna minor achieved high removal efficiency of Mn and Pb from wastewater. Also, the results demonstrate the impressive ability of the Lemna minor genotype to accumulate high concentrations of Na, Al, Hg and Fe compared to that of the control plants. Simultaneously, an antagonistic effect was observed in case of the Cu, Ni and Zn after the accumulation metals from the wastewater.