Abstract: Water hyacinth (Eichhornia. crassipes) is a bioremediation agent for refinery and gas production effluents but has great potentials for income generation through the economic utilization of it parts. The phytoremediation potential of the aquatic weed in crude oil contaminated sites and the conversion of the waste to economically viable craft materials was studied. The aim was to access the efficacy of Eichhornia.crassipes in the treatment of crude oil contaminated waters; duration of the treatment required and the conversion of the waste generated to economically viable craft materials. The experimental approach involved the exposure of the plants to varying concentration of crude oil (500mg/l, 2500mg/l and 5000mg/l) under laboratory conditions for six weeks while, the E.crassipes generated after six weeks were collected, prepared, dried, treatment, and woven. From results, percentage reductions of total hydrocarbon content were 98.46, 98.65 and 99.85% under 500mg/l, 2500mg/l and 5000mg/l of crude oil exposure concentration respectively. Growth of E. crassipes was enhanced from 1kg to 4kg while water quality variables were observed to improve significantly with percentage reductions of 99.82, 99.95, 99.99 and 85.05 for chemical oxygen demand, nitrate, phosphate and total organic carbon after six of treatment with E.crassipes. In addition, the dried and treated stems of the E. crassipes were converted into economically viable craft materials such as; shoes, bags, flower vases caps and belt. It is concluded that the introduction of E.crassipes in oil contaminated waters resulted in the removal of the crude oil and the restoration of the water quality through the interaction of E. crassipes and their associated microorganisms. While the drying and treatment of E. crassipes stems resulted into economically viable craft materials. Thus, E.crassipes can serve as an agent of bioremediation in crude oil contaminated waters and the process of conversion if deployed/implemented would become an employment generating opportunity, minimize third party interference on oil exploitation and production activities minimize youth restiveness particularly in the Niger Delta and revenue for potential investors.
Keywords: Water hyacinth, bioremediation, craft, Total hydrocarbon.
Title: WATER HYACINTH: IT’S RELEVANCE IN THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY AND IN REVENUE GENERATION
Author: O. Omokheyeke, F.D Sikoki
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-3148 (online), ISSN 2348-313X (Print)
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