Preliminary Test of Hydrocarbon Exposure on Salvinia molesta in Phytoremediation Process

The preliminary test in phytoremediation was necessary to determine the ability of plants to survive in media with different concentrations of contaminant. It was conducted to determine the maximum concentration of contaminant that is harmful to the plant and suppress the plant growth. In this study we observed the ability of an aquatic plant Salvinia molesta to resist diesel contaminant in synthetic wastewater of different concentrations (0, 8700, 17400, 26000, 34800, and 43500 mg/L) . The experimental work was performed in a green house in the outdoor condition for an observation period of 2 weeks. Throughout the 2 weeks duration, the results showed that 33% of the aquatic plants withered at the concentration of 8700 mg/L and 100% withered at higher concentration of 43500 mg/L. In addition, the rate of growth was measured through wet and dry weight of the aquatic plant, Salvinia molesta to determine the plant biomass. The dry weight (y) was correlated to the wet weight (x) through a growing line of y=0.0157 x + 0.4513 with R²