THE VETIVER SYSTEM

FOR
IMPROVING WATER QUALITY

PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF

CONTAMINATED WATER AND LAND

Second Edition (2015)

By

Paul Truong and Luu Thai Danh

Second Edition 2015

First Edition 2008
Published by The Vetiver Network International

Cover photo – Boonah (Queensland, Australia) sewage effluent treatment. A Vetiver

System phytoremediation application
 PREFACE

The Vetiver System (VS) is dependent on the use of a very unique tropical plant, Vetiver grass,
Chrysopogon zizanioides. The plant can be grown over a very wide range of climatic and soil
conditions, and if planted correctly can be used virtually anywhere under tropical, semi-tropical,
and Mediterranean climates. It has characteristics that in totality are unique to a single species.
When Vetiver grass is grown (generally) in the form of a narrow self-sustaining hedgerow it
exhibits special characteristics that are essential to many of the different applications that
comprise the Vetiver System. Vetiver grass can be used for applications that will protect river
basins and watersheds against environmental damage, particularly point source environmental
problems relating to: (1) sediment flows, and (2) excess nutrients, heavy metals and pesticides
in leachate from toxic sources. The two are closely linked.

This handbook, originally published in 2008 has been completely revised to reflect the significant
gains in knowledge, both research and field experience that has occurred in most parts of the
tropics and semi-tropics over the past seven years. Over that time Vetiver System applications for
the decontamination or containment of polluted water and land has shown significant success, and
as a result there is a growing interest in its application for the mitigation of many water/land
related problems that are nowadays often overwhelming communities, both rural and urban, due to
poverty, population pressures, lack of public financing, and climate change. The applications
described in this handbook can be used at various scales by a very wide range of users, and have
particular potential for providing the means for communities to create resilience, at low cost (often
independent from formal public services), that will allow a more secure and better quality of life.

An important objective of this handbook is to introduce the Vetiver System to planners, design
engineers and other potential users, who continue to be unaware of the effectiveness of the Vetiver
System for improving water quality, particularly that associated with effluent discharge and
leachate flows from industrial sites, contaminated mining sites, polluted urban/domestic
waste water, and sadly and more too often agro-chemical contaminated agricultural land.

This handbook has been revised by Paul Truong and Luu Thai Danh. We have to thank them
and all those whose work has been included. The handbook is recommended reading for
anyone looking for environmental friendly and low cost solutions for dealing with water
quality issues – it might just provide the answers at a time when the world and its people
are facing some very serious environmental problems.

Dick Grimshaw
Founder and Director of The Vetiver Network International.
December 2015
 CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. HOW THE VETIVER SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY WORKS 1
III. SPECIAL FEATURES OF VETIVER SUITABLE FOR 2
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION PURPOSES.
3.1. Morphological attributes 2
3.1.1. Vetiver roots 2
3.1.2. Vetiver shoots 3
3.2. Physiological characteristics 5
3.2.1. Tolerance to extreme weather conditions 5
3.2.2. Tolerance to fire 6
3.2.3. Tolerance to adverse soil conditions 7
3.2.4. Tolerance to a wide range of heavy metal pollutants 8
3.2.5. Tolerance to agrochemicals, organic pollutants and 10
antibiotics
3.2.5.1. Atrazine 10
3.2.5.2. Antibiotics 11
3.2.5.3. Phenol 12
3.2.5.4. 2,4,6-trinitroluen (TNT) 13
3.2.5.5. Aromatic compounds (Benzo[A]pyrene) 14
3.2.5.6. Crude oil 14
3.2.5.7. Dioxin 15
3.2.6. Tolerance to fly ash 17
3.2.7. Tolerance to extremely high level of nutrients in water and 17
soil
3.2.8. High removal rate of nutrients in water and soil 18
3.2.8.1. Nitrogen and phosphorous 18
3.2.8.2. Aluminium 20
 3.2.8.3. Boron 20
3.2.8.4. Fluor 20
3.2.9. High transpiration rate 21
3.2.10. Better performance than other plant species 21
3.3. Agronomic characteristics 22
3.3.1. High biomass production 22
3.3.2. Minimal competition for nutrient and moisture 23
3.3.3. Strong symbiotic association with microorganisms in the 23
rhizosphere
3.3.4. Highly resistant to disease and pests 23
3.3.5. Pest control 24
3.4. Other important characteristics 25
3.4.1. Vetiver is sterile and non-invasive 25
3.4.2. Long life-span 26
IV. COMPUTER MODELS APPLIED FOR WASTE-WATER 26
TREATMENT OF VETIVER GRASS
V. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF POLLUTED WATER 28
5.1. Treatment of sewage effluent 29
5.1.1. Disposal of domestic sewage effluent 25
5.1.2. Disposal of community sewage effluent 34
5.1.3. Disposal of municipal sewage effluent 38
5.1.3.1. Small scale application 38
5.1.3.2. Large scale application 40
5.1.3.3. Catchment scale application 42
5.2. Disposal of industrial wastewater 44
5.2.1. Wastewater from a gelatin factory and a beef abattoir 44
5.2.2. Wastewater from intensive farms 46
5.2.3. Wastewater from a seafood processing factory 47
 5.2.4. Wastewater from a small paper factory 48
5.2.5. Wastewater from a tapioca mill factory 48
5.2.6. Phenol contaminated water from illegal dumping of 49
industrial waste
5.2.7. Wastewater from oil processing factory 50
5.2.8. Wastewater from a palm oil mill factory 50
5.2.9. Wastewater from an aluminium manufacturer 51
5.2.10. Wastewater from a fertilizer company, quarry industry and 52
a public refuse dumpsite
5.2.11. Wastewater from mixture of laboratory and sewage 53
sources
5.3 Disposal of landfill leachate 55
5.3.1. Landfill leachate disposal in Australia 55
5.3.2. Landfill leachate disposal in Mexico 56
5.3.3. Landfill leachate disposal in Morocco 57
5.3.4. Landfill leachate disposal in the United States 58
5.3.5. Landfill leachate disposal in Iran 59
5.4. Municipal landfill leachate seepage control 60
5.5. Reducing toxic elements in irrigation water 62
VI. PREVENTION, TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION OF 63
MINING WASTES AND CONTAMINATED LAND
6.1. Gold mine 66
6.2. Coal mine 74
6.2.1. Overburden 74
6.2.2. Tailings 75
6.3. Bentonite mine 78
6.4. Bauxite mine 80
6.5. Copper mine 85
 6.6. Lead/zinc mines 89
6.7. Iron ore mine 93
6.8. Ammonia and nitrate contaminated land 95
6.9. Hydrocarbon contaminated land 98
6.10. Agricultural chemicals contaminated land 98
VII. REFERENCES 100
I. INTRODUCTION

In the course of researching the application of Vetiver grass’s extraordinary attributes to

soil and water conservation, the grass was also found to possess unique physiological and
morphological characteristics which is particularly well suited to environmental
protection, particularly in the prevention and treatment of contaminated water and land.
These remarkable characteristics include a high level of tolerance to elevated and even
toxic levels of salinity, acidity, alkalinity, sodicity, and a whole range of heavy metals and
agrochemicals, as well as exceptional ability to absorb and tolerate elevated levels of
nutrients and uptake of large quantities of water in the process of producing a massive
growth under wet conditions.

The application of the Vetiver System Technology (VST) as a phytoremediation tool for
environmental protection is an innovative approach that has tremendous potential. VST is
a natural, green, simple, practicable and cost-effective solution. Most importantly,
Vetiver’s leaf by-product offers a range of uses from handicrafts, animal feeds, thatches,
mulch and fuel, to name just a few.

Its effectiveness, simplicity and low cost make the VST a welcome partner in the many
tropical and subtropical countries for domestic, municipal and industrial wastewater
treatment; and contaminated land and mining wastes phytoremediation and rehabilitation.

II. HOW THE VETIVER SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY (VST) WORKS

VST prevents and treats contaminated water and land in the following ways.

Preventing and treating contaminated water

• Eliminating or reducing the volume of wastewater,
• Improving the quality of wastewater and polluted water,
• Absorbing nutrients, heavy metals and other pollutants.

Preventing and treating contaminated land

• Controlling offsite pollution,

1
• Phytoremediation of contaminated land,
• Trapping eroded materials and trash in runoff water,
• Absorbing nutrients, heavy metals and other pollutants.

III. SPECIAL VETIVER FEATURES SUITABLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION PURPOSES.

Special characteristics of Vetiver are directly applicable to environmental protection

purposes, including the following morphological, physiological and agronomic attributes.

3.1. Morphological attributes

3.1.1. Vetiver roots

The success of using Vetiver for phytoremediation of contaminated soils and water
depends on the interaction between its roots and contaminated bodies. Vetiver possesses a
lacework root system that is abundant, complex, and extensive (Figure 1). The root
system can reach 3-4 meters in the first year of planting (Hengchaovanich, 1998) and
acquires a total length of 7 meters after 36 months (Lavania, 2003). The features of the
root system support its survival under extreme drought conditions as it can utilize deep
soil moisture. The root system prevents Vetiver from dislodgement under high velocity
flows (Hengchaovanich, 1999; Hengchaovanich and Nilaweera, 1998). However, the
grass certainly may not penetrate too far down into the groundwater table. Therefore at
locations with high groundwater level, its root system may not be as long as in drier soil
(Van and Truong, 2008). Furthermore, mmost Vetiver roots are very fine with an average
diameter of 0.66 mm (range from 0.2-1.7 mm) (Cheng et al., 2003). The vertical growth
rate of Vetiver root reaches a plateau of approximately 3 cm per day at the soil
temperature of 25°C. At the higher soil temperature, the root extension rate is higher but
not statistically significant. At the lower soil temperature (13°C), underground root
growth was still detected indicating that Vetiver is not dormant at this temperature (Wang,
2000). The horizontal spreading of lateral roots was in the range of 0.15-0.29 m with an
average of 0.23 m (Mickovski et al., 2005). Similarly, root growth of Vetiver was
measured about 25 cm wide in the study of Nix et al. (2006). After 8 months of
cultivation, Vetiver produced 0.48 kg of dry roots per plant. The peculiarity of Vetiver’s

2
Figure 5. Strong recovery of Vetiver growth after the heavy fires in Vanuatu (left) and Australia
(right). Source: www.vetiver.org.

3.2.3. Tolerance to adverse soil conditions

Another interesting characteristics of Vetiver is the high tolerance of a wide range of
extreme soil conditions, such as high and low pH, high aluminum, high salinity, and high
sodicity. Glasshouse and field experiments showed that Vetiver can grow well on the soils
with pH ranging from 3.3 – 9.5 (Danh et al., 2009). Particularly, Vetiver showed excellent
growth on old gold tailings (pH = 2.7) and bauxite mine tailings (pH = 12) in Northern
Queensland, Australia (Danh et al., 2012). Vetiver can grow on the soils with aluminum
saturation level (ASL) of 68-86%, however the grass did not survive at ASL of 90% with
soil pH of 2 (Truong and Baker, 1997). The study in Vanuatu recently indicated that
Vetiver can thrive on highly acidic soils with ASL of 87% (Truong, 1999). Vetiver can
grow on saline soils with ECse up to 47.5 dS m-1, its salinity threshold is at ECse = 8 dS m-
1
and soil ECse values of 20 dS m-1 reduce yield by 50%. Vetiver grass was also
demonstrated to be able to grow in seawater with salinity ranging from 0 - 19.64 dS m-1,
equivalent to 0 - 11 ‰ salt (Cuong et al., 2015). For this reason, Vetiver is classified to a
group of highly salt tolerant crop and pasture species grown in Australia (Greenfield,
2002). In addition, the growth of Vetiver grass on the soil with exchangeable sodium
percentage (ESP) up to 48% was not adversely affected (Bevan et al., 2000), while the
value of ESP higher than 15% considered to be strongly sodic (Northcote and Skene,
1972).

7
3.2.4. Tolerance to a wide range of heavy metal pollutants
One special attribute of Vetiver discovered recently has made it an excellent plant for
heavy metal phytoremediation is its ability to highly tolerate and accumulate a wide range
of heavy metals. While most vascular plants are highly sensitive to heavy metal toxicity
and most plants were also reported to have very low threshold levels for metals in the
soils, Vetiver grass can tolerate not only high concentrations of individual heavy metals in
soils but also combinations of several heavy metals (Danh et al., 2012). A series of single
heavy metal experiments under glasshouse conditions proved that Vetiver has high
tolerance to a wide range of heavy metals in soils due to its high threshold levels of these
metals in soils (Table 1). Vetiver could survive and grow well on multi-heavy metal
contaminated soils under glasshouse conditions with total Pb, Zn and Cu in the range of
1155 - 3281.6, 118.3 - 1583 and 68 - 1761.8 mg kg-1, respectively. Vetiver was also
demonstrated to grow well on iron ore tailings containing high concentrations of multi-
heavy metals with total Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu concentrations of 63920, 190, 3220 and 190
mg kg-1, respectively (Roongtanakiat et al., 2008). Under field conditions, Vetiver could
grow on mine tailing soils containing total Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd of 2078 - 4164, 2472 -
4377, 35 - 174 and 7 - 32 mg kg-1, respectively. Recently, Vetiver grass has been shown
to accumulate high content of these metals in its roots and shoots (Table 2). Majority of
heavy metals accumulated in the Vetiver roots and only small portions transported into the
shoots make Vetiver grass suitable for phytostabilization of heavy metal contaminated
soils (Danh et al., 2012).

8
 Table 1. Threshold levels of heavy metals to Vetiver growth based on single element
experiment (Danh et al., 2012).

Threshold to growth of most Threshold to Vetiver survival under

Heavy vascular plants (mg kg-1) Vetiver growth (mg the highest levels of
metals kg-1) metals reported in the
Hydroponic Soil level Soil level literature (mg kg-1 soil)
Arsenic level
0.02-7.5 2.0 100-250 959
Boron 180
Cadmium 0.2-9.0 1.5 20-60 60
Copper 0.5-8.0 NA 50-100 2600
Chromium 0.5-10.8 NA 200-600 2290
Lead NA NA >1500 10750
Mercury NA NA >6 17
Nickel 0.5-2.0 7-10 100 100
Selenium NA 2-14 >74 > 74
Zinc NA NA >750 6400
Iron 63920 1
Manganese 3220 1
Uranium 250 2
Note: 1 Roongtanakiat et al., (2008), 2 Hung et al., (2012).

Vetiver was recently investigated for its potential in accumulating uranium (U) from four
artificially contaminated soils (Hung et al., 2012). The soils were spiked with aqueous
solution of uranyl nitrate at four concentrations of U: 0, 50, 100 and 250 mg kg-1 dry soil.
It was found that Vetiver grew well on the contaminated soils, even at the highest level of
added U, and showed no symptoms of toxicity. In addition, the biomass of the grass
grown in soils contaminated with high concentration of U was not significantly different
from that of the control grass. Vetiver accumulated more U in the roots than in the shoots,
and the uptake is dependent on the soil properties. High soil salinity increased the uptake,
but organic matters, ferrous, potassium, and clay content reduced the uranium uptake of
Vetiver. The lower nutrient content of soils the higher uranium uptake by the plant. It can
be concluded that Vetiver is a potential plant for phytoremediation of soils contaminated
with uranium.

9
Table 2. The highest concentrations of heavy metals accumulated in the roots and shoots
of Vetiver reported in the literature (Danh et al., 2012).

Heavy Soil condition Hydroponic condition

metals
Roots (mg kg-1) Shoots (mg kg-1) Roots (mg kg-1) Shoots (mg kg-1)
Lead 4940 359 ≥ 10,000 ≥ 3350
Zinc 2666 642 >10,000 >10,000
Chromium 1750 18
Copper 953 65 900 700
Arsenic 268 11.2
Cadmium 396 1 ~ 44 2232 93
Mercury 1310 2
Iron 871 3 1197 3
Manganese 552 3 648 3
Uranium 28 4 164 4
Note: 1 Zhang et al., (2014), 2 Lomonte et al., (2014), 3 Roongtanakiat et al., (2008), 4 Hung et al.,
(2012).

3.2.5. Tolerance to agrochemicals, organic pollutants and antibiotics

Vetiver has been recently found to be highly resistant to a range of organic pollutants in
growing media, including agrochemicals, antibiotics and other organic wastes (Table 3).
Particularly, Vetiver was demonstrated to have ability to remove phenol, tetracycline and
2,4,6-trinitroluen (TNT) from growing media.

3.2.5.1. Atrazine
Vetiver can tolerate up to 20 ppm of atrazine for six weeks, even with a maximum
bioavailability created by the use of a hydroponic system (Marcacci et al., 2006). It can be
explained by the fact that Vetiver possesses the effective detoxifying processes involving
conjugation and dealkylation of atrazine in which conjugation clearly dominates on
dealkylation. The conjugated atrazine was mainly detected in leaves, while the dealkylate
products were found in both roots and leaves. Furthermore, Vetiver roots were
demonstrated to be able to sequester atrazine in the lipid content where Vetiver oil could
concentrate atrazine. Vetiver oils in the root increase with aging thus atrazine
sequestration in roots may increase with time. Because of the constant growth of the root
system, some atrazine in the water could be trans-located to the shoot with the

10
transpiration stream, where detoxification occurs. Under soil condition, the plant growth
of Vetiver, measured by leaf chlorophyll activity, was not affected by the application of
high atrazine concentration, equivalent to 1 mg/L. The reduction of atrazine in Vetiver
treated soils was significantly greater than of the control treatment, owing to atrazine
accumulation of Vetiver and microbial degradation of atrazine induced by Vetiver roots in
rhizosphere (Winter, 1999). It can be concluded that the combination of these Vetiver
properties make it an ideal plant for phytoremediation of atrazine and maybe extended to
other agricultural and industrial pollutants, such as dioxin.

Table 3. The tolerance of Vetiver to the highest concentrations of organic pollutants in

growing media reported in literature.

Organic pollutants Soil Hydroponic References

Agrochemicals
Atrazine 20000 µg L-1 1
Diuron 2000 µg L-1 2
Antibiotics

Tetracycline 15 mg L-1 3
Others
Phenol 1000 mg L-1 4
-1
2,4,6-Trinitroluene 80 mg kg 5
-1
40 mg L 6
Benzo[A]pyrene 100 mg kg-1 7
Petroleum hydrocarbons 5% 8
Note: 1 Marcacci et al., 2006; 2 Cull et al., 2000; 3 Datta et al., 2013; 4 Singh et al., 2008; 5 Das
et al., 2007b; 6: Makris et al., 2007b; 7 Li et al., 2006; 8 Brandt et al., 2006.

3.2.5.2 Antibiotics
Vetiver completely removed tetracycline (TC) from all treatments with three
concentrations of TC (5, 10, and 15 mg L-1) within 40 days, whereas no significant
reduction in the TC concentrations was found in absence of Vetiver grass (Datta et al.,
2013).

11
3.2.5.3. Phenol
Vetiver plantlets grown under aseptic conditions could remove almost all phenol from
media with phenol concentration less than 200 mg L-1 in a period of 4 days (Singh et al.,
2008). Vetiver removed 89%, 76%, and 70% phenol within 4 days as grown in the media
of 200, 500 and 1000 mg phenol L-1, respectively. As plant investigated under aseptic
conditions without the confounding effect of microorganisms, this study indicated that
Vetiver was solely responsible for phenol remediation. However, the study of Phenrat et
al. (2015) suggested that phenol degradation by Vetiver involves two phases (Figure 6).
The first phase included phyto-oxidation and phytopolymerization of phenol assisted by
root-produced H2O2 and peroxidase (POD). The second phase was a combination of the
first phase with the enhanced rhizomicrobial degradation. Initially, phenol was rapidly
detoxified to phenol radicals, followed by polymerization to non-toxic polyphenols or
selective polymerization with natural organic matters, which were then precipitated as
particulate polyphenols (PPP) or particulate organic matters (POM). After the first phase,
the concentration of phenol significantly decreased, while that of PPP and POM greatly
increased, as indicated by the increase of particulate chemical oxygen demand.
Synergistically, rhizomicrobes intensively grew on the roots of Vetiver grass and
participated in microbial degradation of phenol at the lower concentration, increasing
phenol degradation rate by more than 4-folds in comparison to phenol degradation rate in
the first phase, and by approximately 32-folds compared with phenol removal rate without
Vetiver grass. The combined effects of root-assisted phyto-oxidation and phyto-
polymerization, and rhizomicrobial degradation resulted in the complete removal of
phenol in wastewater.

The feasibility of phenol degradation by vetiver grass was investigated on a floating

platform and a wetland with horizontal flow (WHF) at laboratory scale (Phenrat et al.,
2015). Phenol was degraded at a rate constant of 9.7 x 10-3 h-1 for the floating platform
treatment (100 vetiver plants per 35 L of wastewater), and 10 x 10-3 h-1 for the WHF
treatment (20 vetiver plants over a length and width of 40 and 20 cm, respectively). The
phenol degradation rate of vetiver treatments are about 10 times slower than that of
ultrasound (advanced engineering techniques) with a rate of 111 x 10-3 h-1. However,
phytoremediation of phenol and other hazardous substances by vetiver grass is much more
suitable as considering the practicality of this technique and the widespread nature of
contamination.

12
Figure 6: The hypothetical mechanism of phenol degradation by vetiver grass in wastewater
(Source: Phenrat et al., 2015).

3.2.5.4. 2,4,6-trinitroluen (TNT)

Under hydroponic condition, Vetiver was demonstrated to have high affinity for TNT by
nearly complete removal of TNT from 40 mg TNT L-1 solution after 8 days of treatment
(Makris et al., 2007a). TNT removal kinetic of Vetiver was significantly increased by the
addition of urea as a chaotropic agent (Makris et al., 2007b). No TNT was detected either
in roots or shoots, but three major TNT metabolites were found in the roots, but not in the
shoot, indicating TNT degraded by Vetiver roots. Similarly, Vetiver could reduce 97% of
TNT in soil treated with 40 mg kg-1 TNT after 3 days (Das et al., 2010). As the initial
TNT concentration was doubled (80 mg kg-1), after 3 and 12 days Vetiver could remove
39% and 88% TNT in soil without urea addition, respectively, however up to 84% and
95% TNT in soil removed with urea amendment, respectively.

13
In a study aimed at determining the tolerance of Vetiver to crude oil contaminated soil and
its ability to stimulate biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbon in soil, Brandt et al
(2006) in Venezuela found that after 6 months, tiller number of plants grown in soils
contaminated with 5% of Venezuelan heavy crude oil was higher than that of control.
Despite significant reduction in biomass, plant height and root growth in the presence of
crude oil, Vetiver shoots did not show any signs of toxicity. As for the degradation of total
oil and grease in soil, no significant decrease in the presence of Vetiver was detected. It
can be concluded that the cultivation of Vetiver on oil-polluted sites in Venezuela is
considered to be useful. Firstly, Vetiver planting provides soil erosion control thus
avoiding offsite pollution. Moreover, if planted on slightly oil-contaminated soil it could
ameliorate soils for subsequent cultivation of remedial species.

Tolerance level and rehabilitation potential of Vetiver grass on various processed

industrial oils were studied in a small glasshouse trial in Australia. Soil samples were
collected from a gold mine in Queensland between 2001- 2007. Six months after planting,
it was found that (Truong, pers.com):
§ Diesel fuel is highly toxic to Vetiver growth. Vetiver could not survive at 50%
mixture of highly contaminated diesel fuel. Diesel is even more deadly if sprayed
on leaves,
§ Vetiver is moderately tolerant to hydraulic oil,
§ Vetiver is highly tolerant to degraded/oxidized hydraulic oil.

3.2.5.7 Dioxin
Anticipating Vetiver exerting a similar effect on dioxin as it did on atrazine, a dioxin
phytoremediation project funded by the Vietnamese Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environment was initiated at Bien Hoa Air base, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam in 2014
(Huong et al, 2015). Dioxin is a manufacturing contaminant present in Agent Orange that
is a 1:1 mixture of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D herbicide. Dioxins are a family of chemicals that
have been implicated to cause serious health effects in humans, including birth defects,
rashes, psychological symptoms and cancer. During the Vietnam War, approximately 76
million liters of Agent Orange herbicide were sprayed over 1.82 million ha of Southern
Vietnam. A Luoi Valley (65 km west of Hue, near the Laos border) and Bien Hoa air base
(near Saigon) were two main stockpile/storage facilities of Agent Orange during the war.
The overall objective is to treat the contaminated land at Bien Hoa air base, and more

15
specifically to determine whether Vetiver can grow on such highly contaminated soil and
whether it can breakdown dioxin as it did with atrazine.

After preliminary investigation of the dioxin level in this area, Vetiver was cultivated on
an area of 300 m2 with a moderate dioxin-contaminated level (about 1000 – 2000 ppt
TEQ). The two main objectives of this project were to investigate:

• The capability of Vetiver grass in phytostabilization of dioxin-contaminated sites,

preventing its offsite contamination; and
• Its effectiveness in the bioremediation of the dioxin-contaminated soils.

After four months of cultivation, Vetiver grass grew well on poor quality and moderately
toxic chemical/dioxin contaminated soil, with and without soil supplement. Some plants
started flowering in week 16, indicating that Vetiver was well established on this kind of
contaminated soil. These results demonstrated that the first objective - capability of
Vetiver grass in phytostabilization of dioxin-contaminated sites was achieved just four
months after planting. This investigation is in progress and the final results are expected
in March 2016. If outcomes are promising, large-scale implementation of Vetiver grass
technolgy to rehabilitate moderately toxic chemicals/dioxins contaminated soils in
Vietnam can be applied (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Vetiver 5 months after planting, with soil supplement (left); and without soil
supplement (right).

16
3.2.6. Tolerance to fly ash
Coal-based power generation is a principal source of electricity in many countries. About
15–30% of the total amount of residues generated during coal combustion is fly ash (FA).
Part of FA is re-used in in cements, concrete, bricks, wood substitute products, soil
stabilization, road base/embankments and consolidation of ground, land reclamation, and
as a soil amendment in agriculture (Asokan et al., 2005; Jala and Goyal, 2006). The rest is
disposed in landfills on open landfills that are under pressure from environmental
concerns and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Vegetative reclamation of
ash ponds is an economical and effective solution to reduce their environmental impacts,
such as preventing fugitive dust emission, controlling soil erosion, stabilizing the surface
areas of ash, preventing the potential ground water contamination and finally adding
vegetation cover that is vital in the long run. However, FA often inhibits plant growth
owing to its characteristics, such as alkalinity, nutrient deficiencies, toxic heavy metal
contents, and poor physical structure. Therefore, selection or screening of plant species
which are tolerant to toxic levels of heavy metals has attracted much attention in the
treatment of the abandoned fly ash dump (Das and Adholeya, 2009).

Vetiver was selected and investigated for the capacity of remediating fly ash-soil
amendments (0, 25, 50 and 100%) over a period of 18 months in a pot experiment (Ghosh
et al., 2015). The amendments and their respective leachates were subjected to metal
analysis to understand the role of heavy metal induced genotoxicity. The roots and leaves
of Vetiver grown in different amendments were subjected to metal estimation to help
understand the extent of remediation of fly ash under the influence of Vetiver. The study
revealed the marked decrease in concentration of heavy metals and the significant
decrease in genotoxic potential of the fly ash soil amendments marked by reduction in
micronuclei formation, bi-nucleate cells and chromosomal aberrations of Vetiver roots
over the period of 18 months. Therefore, Vetiver can be used as an excellent candidate for
remediation and restoration of fly ash dumpsites.

3.2.7. Tolerance to extremely high level of nutrients in water and soil

Vetiver has been demonstrated to highly tolerate and accumulate high concentrations of
nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) - the main elements causing water pollution (Figure
9). The application of up to 10,000 and 1,000 kg ha-1 year-1 of N and P, respectively, did
not adversely affect Vetiver growth, however insignificant Vetiver growth response was

17
observed at rates higher than 6,000 and 250 kg ha-1 year-1 of N and P, respectively
(Wagner et al., 2003).

Figure 9. High N and P removal capacity of Vetiver: blue green algae infested waste water (left)
with high nitrate (100 mg L-1) and phosphate (10 mg L-1), same effluent after 4 days of treatment
with Vetiver (right) reducing N and P level to 6 and 1 mg L-1, respectively. Algal infestation was
eliminated from the effluent.

3.2.8. High removal rate of nutrients in water and soil

3.2.8.1. Nitrogen and phosphorous

Vetiver is superior in terms of N and P removal as compared to other grasses (Figure 10).
Under hydroponic condition with a sewage effluent flow rate of 20 L min-1 through
Vetiver roots, one square meter of Vetiver can treat 30,000 mg of N and 3,575 mg of P in
eight days (Hart et al., 2003). In this application, Vetiver out-performed other crops and
pasture plants, such as Rhodes grass, Kikuyu grass, green panic, forage sorghum, rye
grass and eucalyptus trees (Truong, 2003). Vetiver reduced total N and P of the polluted
river water (initial concentrations of 9.1 and 0.3 mg L-1, respectively) by 71 and 98%,
respectively after 4 weeks of treatment (Zheng et al, 1997). Vetiver could remove up to
740 kg N ha-1 and 110 kg P ha-1 over 3 months at a nutrient-rich site and 1,020 kg N ha-1
and 85 kg P ha-1 over 10 months at a lower nutrient site (Vieritz et al., 2003). In a pot
experiment (Smeal et al., 2003), Vetiver was demonstrated to have a very high recovery
rate for nitrogen in shoots, but quite low for phosphorous (Table 4).

18
 Figure 10. N (above) and P (below) removal of three grasses over time.

Table 4. Recovery rate of N and P by Vetiver.

Recovery rate by Vetiver (%)

Treatment Recovery in soil (%) Total
Shoot Root
N (ton ha-1 year-1)
2 76.3 20.4 0.3 97
4 72.1 23.1 0.1 95.3
6 67.3 21.2 0.4 88.9
8 56.1 30.0 0.4 86.5
10 46.7 17.0 0.1 63.8
P (kg ha-1 year-1)
250 30.5 23.3 46.3 100
500 20.5 14.6 48.7 83.8
1000 16.5 14.2 40.8 71.5

19
3.2.8.2. Aluminium
Vetiver was demonstrated to be a good candidate for the treatment of aluminium (Al)
contaminated wastewater. In a study to quantitatively verify the adsorption of Al from the
contaminated industrial wastewater and to evaluate the potential of adsorption of three
macrophyte species (Vetiver, Scirpus lacustris, Typha latifolia), results showed that at Al
concentration of 20% Scirpus lacustris and Vetiver had the best removal efficiencies (99
and 98%, respectively). Vetiver had very good performance reaching 94% of removal
efficiencies at Al concentration of 70%. Maximum adsorption of Al during the
phytoremediation process for all species occurred in the first 24 hours. Based on the
statistical analysis, the initial water pH was found to be an important factor in the
performance of the process (Aldana et al., 2013).

3.2.8.3. Boron
The pioneering study on the ability of Vetiver to remove boron was carried out by Angin
et al. (2008) Vetiver was grown in a series of pots that were artificially contaminated with
B (0 - 180 mg B kg-1). Boron addition did not impact dry matter yield. After 90 days of
experiments, plants were harvested for chemical analysis. The concentration of B
accumulated in roots and shoots increased with the level of B in soils. The level of B in
Vetiver roots was greater than in shoots: the treatment of 180 mg B kg-1 resulted in about
28 mg B kg-1 DW in roots while shoots contained about 17 mg B kg-1.

3.2.8.4. Fluor
Vetiver was tested for its ability to remove fluoride from the contaminated water at a
community in Guarataro, Yaracuy, Venezuela (Ruiz et al., 2013). This community has
serious public health problems, due to the consumption of groundwater contaminated with
high level of fluor, which exceeding the limits set by the government. It results in dental
fluorosis, characterized by alterations of enamel and in some instances gingival and
alveolar injury. 93% of the population of this community suffer dental fluorosis,
especially school-children. At the beginning of the experiment, Vetiver had a positive
effect in reducing fluoride in water (from 2.72 to 2.22 mg L-1). However, Vetiver did not
show a significant effect in decreasing the concentration of fluoride in water in subsequent
analysis. Furthermore, the chemical analysis of the plant tissue showed significant
absorption of fluoride, demonstrating that Vetiver plant can accumulate this element in its
tissues, but the accumulation is not significant for the treatment of fluoride contaminated

20
water. As for nitrogen and phosphorous, Vetiver reduced these pollutants over 90%,
demonstrating high efficiency of Vetiver system in removing nutrients.

3.2.9. High transpiration rate

A further peculiar aspect of Vetiver is its high transpiration rate, which plays a key role in
the phytoremediation of wastewater. It is due to the fact that the plant must transpire
enough water from the growing media in order to take up the contaminants effectively
(Vose et al., 2004). Truong and Smeal (2003) established a correlation between water use
(soil moisture at field capacity) and dry weight (DW) yield of Vetiver. For 1 kg of dry
shoot biomass, Vetiver would use 6.86 L day-1 of water. The 12 week old Vetiver with
dry matter yield estimated at 40.7 t ha-1 at the peak of its growth cycle would potentially
use 279 KL ha-1 day-1. As comparing with other wetland plants, such as Iris pseudacorus,
Typha spp., Schoenoplectus validus, Phragmites australis, Vetiver has the highest water
use rate (Cull et al., 2000). For example, at the average consumption rate of 600 ml day-1
pot-1 over a period of 60 days, Vetiver used 7.5 times more water than Typha.

3.2.10. Better performance than other plant species

Literature search on the use of different macrophytes, (published between 1997 to 2014)
that have been used for industrial and domestic wastewater treatment, such as pig farm,
dairy, sugar factory, textile, tannery, septic tank, domestic, municipal, black water, grey
water, river water and lake water, showed that Vetiver is either equally and often more
effective in treating wastewater than other macrophytes such as Cyperus alternifolius,
Cyperus exaltatus, Cyperus papyrus, Phragmites karka, Phragmites australis,
Phragmites mauritianus, Typha latifolia, Typha angustifolia, Eichhornia crassipes
(Water Hyacinth), Iris pseudacorus, Lepironia articutala and Schoenoplectus validus. For
example, Le Viet Dung (2015) demonstrated the superiority of Vetiver over Water
Hyacinth in treating Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), pH and nutrient content. While
Vetiver continued to grow vigorously, Water Hyacinth died after 8 days in the pig farm
wastewater, which had relatively high BOD. Results shows that Vetiver significantly
reduced BOD level was by 40% (from 245.80mg/L to 146,37mg/L) after 32 days
treatment, while the reduction in Water Hyacinth and control were 21% and 19%
respectively. Xia (1997) also found that water hyacinth all died at BOD of 120.8mg/L.

21
3.3. Agronomic characteristics

3.3.1. High biomass production

Vetiver has a fast growing rate and high biomass production that are two important factors
determining its great potential for phytoremediation. Vetiver is a C4 plant that has high
rate of photosynthesis at high light intensities and high temperatures due to the increased
efficiency of photosynthetic carbon reduction cycle (Hatch, 1987). Consequently, it has
high growth rate, as indicated by the high radiation use efficiency (RUE) of 18 kg ha-1 per
MJ m-1 (Vieritz et al., 2003). The RUE of Vetiver is comparable with other C4 high
biomass producing grasses such as maize (Zea mays L.) and sugarcane (Saccharum
officinarum) which present 16 and 18 kg ha-1 per MJ m-1, respectively (Muchow et al.,
1990; Inman-Bamber, 1974) and much higher than the RUE of C3 grasses such as coastal
couch grass (Cynodon dactylon): 5.3 kg ha-1 per MJ m-1 (Burton and Hanna, 1985). High
growth rate results in high biomass production of Vetiver, about 100 tons of dry matter ha-
1
year-1 under tropical hot and wet conditions (Truong, 2003). Vetiver biomass production
was demonstrated to be higher than that of tropical and subtropical pasture crop (Figure
11). Under sub-tropical weather, Vetiver grass still produces relatively high biomass of
10- 20 tons after 5-6 months of cultivation (Shu et al., 2004; Yang et al., 2003), owing to
the fact that Vetiver retains high activity of the key enzymes involved in photosynthesis
(NADP-MDH and NADP-MET) under temperate climates (Bertea and Camusso, 2002).

Figure 11. Potential dry matter yield of three grasses over time.

22
3.3.2. Minimal competition for nutrient and moisture
As shown in Figure 1, most of Vetiver roots grow vertically, especially in the first 30 - 40
cm, hence providing minimal competition for nutrient and soil moisture to accompanying
crops. Even at depth, the horizontal spreading of lateral roots was in the range of 0.15 -
0.29 m with an average of 0.23 m (Mickovski et al., 2005). Similarly, Vetiver roots spread
about 0.25 m wide in the study of Nix et al. (2006). Hence, Vetiver has been widely used
for windbreak to vegetable crops in China, orchard trees in Australia, companion crop to
mung bean crop in India and as close as 0.15 m in vegetable garden in Senegal (C.Juliard,
pers.com).

3.3.3. Strong symbiotic association with microorganisms in the rhizosphere

Vetiver can survive and grow on soils with very low fertility, particularly organic matter,
nitrogen and phosphorous. It is due to the fact that Vetiver can establish a strong
symbiotic association with a wide range of soil microorganisms in the rhizosphere
(Siripin, 2000; Monteiro et al., 2009; Leaungvutiviroj et al., 2010). These microbes
provide nitrogen (nitrogen fixing bacteria), phosphorous (phosphate solubilizing bacteria
and fungi, mycorrhizal and cellulolytic fungi) and plant growth hormones (plant growth
regulator bacteria) for Vetiver development. Up to 40% of nitrogen content in Vetiver was
obtained from the symbiotic association between Vetiver root system and 35 different
nitrogen fixing bacterial strains (Siripin, 2000). A large number of bacterial strains were
found in the Vetiver rhizosphere being responsible for nitrogen fixation (48 strains), IAA
production (46 strains) and phosphate-solubilization (49 strains) in which 25 bacterial
strains were determined to involve in three plant growth promoting characteristics
(Monteirio et al., 2009). Furthermore, Vetiver also improves the soil quality, in term of
nutritional, physical and biological properties, through its symbiotic association with soil
micro-organisms (Materechera, 2010; Leaungvutiviroj et al., 2010). Particularly, under
the pressure of hostile conditions of heavy metal contaminated soils, the cultivation of
Vetiver can increase the microbial populations in such soils.

3.3.4. Highly resistant to disease and pests

Up to date, there are no major reports related to the diseases and pests of Vetiver grass on
the world (Danh et al., 2012), except Vetiver is susceptible to the leaf blight caused by
Curvularia trifolii (http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_chzi.pdf). However, there are

23
In Brazil, a winery used Vetiver hay as mulch for soil and water conservation on its very
steep slope vineyard in Minas Gerais state. It was observed that grape vines and fruits
were healthier and pest control spray was significantly reduced as the vines and fruits
were protected from insect pest (Figure 13).

Figure 13. Vetiver mulch in vineyard protecting grapes from insect pest (A.Pereira pers.com.)

3.4. Other important characteristics

3.4.1. Vetiver is sterile and non-invasive

The chance of Vetiver becoming a weed is very low owing to the fact that the Vetiver
grass cultivar deliberately selected for the environmental protection is from south Indian
accessions. It produces flowers but sets no seeds and has neither stolons nor rhizomes
(Danh et al., 2012). There are several instances illustrating the low invasiveness potential
of Vetiver on the world. Vetiver was introduced into Fiji from India for thatching more
than 100 years ago, and subsequently it has been widely used for soil and water
conservation purposes in the sugar industry for over 50 years. However, there is no sign
of invasiveness observed (Truong and Creighton, 1994). Additionally, a study conducted
in Australia for 8 years indicated that Vetiver is sterile under various growing conditions
(Truong, 2002).

Generally, the cultivated south India accessions have large and strong root
systems. These accessions tend towards polyploidy and show high levels of sterility and
are not considered invasive. The north Indian accessions, common to the Gangetic and

25
Indus basins, are wild and have weaker root systems. These accessions are diploids and
are known to be weedy, though not necessarily invasive. These north Indian accessions
are NOT recommended by The Vetiver Network International. It should also be noted
that most of the research into different Vetiver applications and field experience have
involved the south Indian cultivars that are closely related (same genotype) as Monto and
Sunshine. DNA studies confirm that about 60% of Vetiver used for bio-engineering and
phytoremediation in tropical and subtropical countries are of the Monto/Sunshine
genotype (Adam and Dafforn, 1997).

Recently, under the strict assessment for weed potential - Pacific Island Ecosystems at
Risk (http://www.Vetiver.org/USA_PIER.htm), Vetiver was listed as Low Risk with a
score of -8. Consequently, the Plant Guide for US Pacific islands published by the US
Department of Agriculture – National Resources Conservation Service recommended
Monto and Sunshine types to be used for soil and water conservation purpose.
(http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_chzi.pdf).

3.4.2. Long life-span

Finally, another special characteristic of Vetiver suitable for long term treatment of
polluted soils and water is its long life-span, so it is commonly used for demarcation of
farm boundary in India and up to 150 years in one case in Vanuatu (Don Miller,
pers.com). Therefore after establishment it will grow and develop under adequate
maintenance for a long period until phytoremediation completed without further
replanting.

IV. COMPUTER MODELS APPLIED FOR WASTE-WATER TREATMENT OF

VETIVER GRASS

Vetiver is highly suitable for the treatment of domestic, municipal and industrial
wastewater due to its extraordinary attributes such as very high level of tolerance and
absorption of pollutants in wastewater, and very high water use rate under wetland
conditions (Danh et al, 2009). But most important of all is its capacity to produce a very
high biomass under a wide range of climatic conditions and adverse soil conditions. It is
due to the fact that the ability of Vetiver grass to remove pollutants and water from the
growing medium depends solely on its biomass production, hence the faster and higher

26
biomass production the faster and more effective the treatment process is. Therefore, if the
biomass production can be estimated for a certain environment, the efficiency of the
treatment process can be predicted and subsequently the land area needed can be worked
out reasonably accurately (Truong et al. 2008)

The use of computer models is now an accepted procedure for any effluent management
program. During the preliminary design of the dry land irrigation system, a crucial
consideration is the amount of land required to dispose of a specified amount of
wastewater. The most efficient method to determine the land area required is to simulate a
site-specific model for the wastewater disposal.

In Queensland, Australia “Model for Effluent Disposal by Land Irrigation” (MEDLI) is

widely used and adopted by the Queensland EPA as a general model for industrial and
municipal wastewater management (Truong et al. 2003; Vieritz et al, 2003). But to date,
the application of MEDLI in tropical and subtropical Australia has been restricted to a
number of tropical and subtropical crops and pasture species, that have much lower
treatment capacities than Vetiver grass. Only recently, Vetiver grass applications have
been designed using MEDLI, and have resulted in large saving in establishment and
operating costs. For example, from the results of MEDLI simulation, the minimum land
area required for disposing all wastewater (with the total volume of 475 ML year-1, N and
P concentration of 300 and 1 mg L-1, respectively) is 72.5, 104 and 153 ha as growing
Vetiver, kikuyu (Pennesitum clandestinum) and Rhodes grass (Chloris guyana),
respectively, at a food processing factory in Queensland (Truong and Smeal, 2003).

MEDLI application is limited to large-scale industrial and municipal wastewater

management. In addition, it is based on pasture and crop plant species and it is not
suitable for simple or smaller scale using Vetiver grass. Therefore, there was a need for a
model that could be applied to sites where MEDLI is not suitable. As a result, Veticon
Consulting developed Effluent Disposal by Vetiver Irrigation (EDVI) for situations where
MEDLI is not applicable. EDVI is based on some components of MEDLI and the update
"Australia Water Balance Model" which is similar to those used in Europe and North
America. Particularly, EDVI was designed exclusively for Vetiver grass, using data from
extensive R&D results on the effectiveness and capacity of Vetiver grass in treating
effluent and leachate in the last 20 years. Major inputs parameters of EVDI needed for the
modeling process include long term (50-100 years) and accurate climate data, soil type

27
and depth, ground water level and accurate quantity and quality of the wastewater input
and local EPA limits for discharged water (Truong and Truong, 2013).

While the application of VS for large scale projects continues to spread around the world,
there is an increasing need for its use in small scale projects to treat low volume domestic
and small community wastewater in developing as well as developed countries. To date,
all small-scale wastewater treatment projects using Vetiver grass are based on trial and
error method and experience. To overcome this, a scientifically based model is needed to
convince authorities of its effectiveness and accuracy. Obviously for small-scale
application, which produces low volume effluent, the long term and accurate parameters
are not easily available or non-existent, hence an accurate determination of the land area
needed is very difficult to make. To fulfill this need, Effluent Disposal by Vetiver
Irrigation for small volume (EDVI-2) was developed specifically to treat small volume
input from individual household and small community sewage effluent and small volume
landfill leachate around the world as well as industrial wastewater from small factories or
cottage industries, such as coffee farmer or small coffee co-operatives, in Latin America
and globally (Truong and Truong, 2013).

V. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF POLLUTED WATER

In general, Vetiver System Technology (VST) treats wastewater in the following

methods:

1. Land irrigation by:

• surface flow irrigation or
• overhead irrigation sprinklers

2. Constructed wetlands:
• on ground ephemeral wetland or
• above ground constructed wetland

3. Hydroponics: pontoons or floating platform

4. Natural wetlands

28
From a technical standpoint, this technology blends numerous disciplines including
engineering, hydraulic, hydrology, microbiology, plant physiology/morphology, soil
science, agronomy, chemistry and computer science for programming and modeling. The
followings are case studies of global applications of Vetiver in treating polluted
wastewater from domestic and industrial discharges.

5.1. Treatment of sewage effluent

5.1.1. Disposal of domestic sewage effluent

The first application of the VPT for effluent disposal was conducted in Australia in 1996
for the treatment of the effluent discharge from a toilet block in a park. With the
cultivation of about 100 Vetiver plants in an area less than 50 m2, the wastewater was
completely dried up (Figure 14). Whilst other plants such as fast growing tropical grasses
and trees, and crops such as sugar cane and banana failed (Truong and Hart, 2001).

Figure 14. After 6 months of cultivation, 100 Vetiver plants absorbed all discharges from the
toilet block.

Groundwater monitoring of the Vetiver cultivation (collected at 2 m depth) showed that

after passing through 5 rows of Vetiver, the levels of total N reduced by 99% (from 93 to
0.7 mg L1), total P by 85% (from 1.3 to 0.2 mg L-1), and fecal coliforms by 95% (from
500 to 23 organisms in 100 mL). These levels are well below the thresholds used by

29
Australian Environmental Authority of total N < 10 mg L-1; total P < 1 mg L-1 and E. coli
< 100 organisms in 100 mL (Figure 15).

In Thailand, comparative studies of Vetiver grown in domestic wastewater from the Royal
Irrigation Department community revealed that different ecotypes exhibited different
growth and adaptability. Surat Thani ecotype was found to exhibit the highest ability (in
percentage) to reduce: nitrate (49.33), bicarbonate (42.66), electrical conductivity (5.81),
and total soluble solids (82.78), while Monto cultivar exhibited the highest ability to
reduce: biological oxygen demand (75.28), total N (92.48), K (14.00), and Na (3.14). The
efficiency of wastewater treatment was found to increase with the age of Vetiver plant,
and the highest was reached at 3 months of age (Chomchalow, 2006).

Effectiveness of Vetiver in reducing P in domestic sewage

30
 Figure 18. The Vetiver latrine design. Source: Lee, 2013.

5.1.2. Disposal of community sewage effluent

Watt Bridge airfield is a small recreational airfield in Queensland, Australia. Vetiver was
planted on an area of 100 m2 (400 plants grown into 8 rows with 10 m long each, inter-
row space of 1 m and 5 plants m-1) to dispose a small volume sewage effluent (Figure 19),
with the results presented in Table 5.

34
irrigation with effluent piped in from the storage pond. After one year of establishment,
there was a dramatic difference in growth (Figure 20).

One year after planting, pits were dug to check on water level and E. coli concentrations.
The pits were dry. From this, it can be deduced that Vetiver has completely disposed of
all effluent. The lack of any residual moisture could only mean a probable absence of any
pathogenic material had survive their passage through the bed of Vetiver roots (Roley
Noffke, pers.com).

Figure 20. Vetiver planting at Refilwe (left) and one year later (right).

A small constructed wetland was installed with the objective of treating 30 KL day-1
domestic sewage effluent generated from a community of 300 inhabitants in Tangier on
the Mediterranean coast, Morocco (Etienne Richards, pers.com). The effluent was
discharged from a septic tank with a capacity of 20 KL. Due to the shortage of land space
in urban area, the system consists of a concrete container with 100 m2 surface area and 1
m in depth, with drain outlet at the bottom to collect samples for analyses (Figure 21).
Vetiver was planted at a density of 5 plants m-2 (500 plants in total). One month after
planting, although not fully mature, the results below show the effectiveness of Vetiver in
removing nutrients from the sewage effluent (Table 6).

It is worth noting that the legal maximum levels of recycle water in Morocco for irrigation
are: BOD < 120 mg/l; COD < 250 mg/l. So this recycle water can be used for gardening

36
Figure 22. The dysfunctional wetland using Typha (left) and seedbed ready for Vetiver
planting (right).

5.1.3. Disposal of municipal sewage effluent

5.1.3.1. Small-scale application

The sewage treatment plant for Toogoolawah, a small town in subtropical Australia, was
built in the 1970s. The plant was constructed as a primary sedimentation (Imhoff Tank)
followed by three sewage storage ponds. The effluent from the ponds was designed to
flow down into a swamp before it overflowed into the local creek. The plant construction
was based on a very simple design but it was effective. With the recent changes to license
conditions imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the plant no longer
complies with the license and so an upgrade of the plant was required. Various options
were considered such as a nutrient removal plant, a sand filter or a rock filter. These
options are expensive and would require expensive ongoing operational costs. The council
then considered a Vetiver System treatment system that would take up most of the water,
as well as remove nutrients, organic compounds and heavy metals from the sewage
effluent (Ash and Truong, 2003).

The Vetiver treatment has composed of two components (Figure 23):

• Hydroponic treatment of effluents in the storage ponds
• Ephemeral wetland

The results of the treatment over the period 2002 - 2004 are summarized in Table 7.

38
5.1.3.2. Large scale application
The Boonah town, near Brisbane, needed to upgrade its sewage treatment plant to comply
with new environmental protection law. An Option Planning Report investigated various
upgrade options to the plant. The report investigated a number of possible upgrade
options for the treatment plant using multi-criteria analysis, determining that a dedicated
irrigation disposal system for the effluent was the most suitable, taking into consideration
timing and cost factors. The recommended solution was to provide a dedicated pasture
grass irrigation solution, which would have required an irrigation area of between 50 and
60 ha.

Subsequently, the preliminary design investigations have been undertaken to develop the
dedicated irrigation solution, and in particular a variation to use Monto Vetiver grass
ephemeral wetland for the disposal area. The Vetiver grass option would provide a
solution with a considerably smaller land requirement than other irrigation systems, would
be more cost effective and have much lower operating costs. The systems investigated
were designed to provide a zero discharge to the creek.

Using EDVI computer model, with inputs vary from 400 to 700 KL day-1, the model
predicted a land area between 10 and 17 ha would be required for the complete disposal of
the effluent inputs. A comprehensive management plan based on this preliminary result
was developed, resulting in significant reduction in land area needed for the complete
disposal, from 50 - 60 ha with pasture grass to 4 - 5 ha with Vetiver (Figure 24). This
project was installed with a very significant saving in construction and maintenance costs
relative to all other options.

Results to date have exceeded expectations. Only 15 months after planting, 4 ha of

Vetiver has totally absorbed between 500 and 600 KL of effluent a day. Ground water
monitoring showed that practically no leaching occurred during dry periods and very little
during wet periods and nutrient levels in these samples were well below the license limits.
Ground water monitoring is continuing.

40
 5.1.3.3. Catchment scale application
Citarum River Basin in Indonesia is the main source of water supply for the capital city
(Jakarta) and the fourth biggest city of Indonesia (Bandung). The Basin is also used for
crop irrigation and industries on the north Java plain, and for communities within the
basin. However, Citarum River is known as the most polluted river in Asia. The cause of
pollution is, in addition to industrial wastes both solid and liquid, indiscriminate disposal
of trash and uncontrolled disposal of sewage effluent and landfill leachate to the river,
using it as an open sewer (Figure 25). The Asian Development Bank (ADB), involved in a
number of strategic project activities to improve the quality and performance of Citarum
River Basin, has recently initiated a project using Vetiver to improve the water quality of
Citarum River.

Figure 25. Citarum River is in crisis, choked by the domestic waste of nine million people and
thick with the cast-off from hundreds of factories.

The strategy for pollution control of the Citarum River using Vetiver has consisted of two
parts, which were implemented simultaneously:

42
Due to the continuous discharge of pollutants from industries along the river, the
quantitative assessment of the river water cannot be made, but the qualitative observation
to date indicated that the water quality has been improved, such as the infestation of blue-
green algae has been substantially reduced and fish has returned to some sections of the
river (Truong and Booth, 2010).

5.2. Disposal of industrial wastewater

5.2.1. Wastewater disposal from a gelatin factory and a beef abattoir

The disposal of industrial wastewater in Australia is subjected to the strict environmental
guidelines enforced by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). The most common
method of treating industrial wastewater in Queensland, Australia is by land irrigation,
which is presently based on tropical and subtropical pasture plants. However, with limited
land area available for irrigation, these plants are not efficient enough to sustainably
dispose of all the effluent produced by the industries. The existing system used pasture
species that could not meet the new EPA standards. Therefore, to comply with the new
standards, most industries are now under strong pressure to upgrade their treatment
processes by adopting Vetiver grass as a sustainable means of disposing wastewater
(Smeal et al, 2003). The application of MEDLI model to determine land area required for
cultivation of Vetiver for wastewater disposal is a practicable and cost effective solution.
However, the use of MEDLI was restricted to a number of tropical and subtropical crops
and pastures, except Vetiver grass, in Australia. To apply Vetiver grass in this model,
therefore, it has to be calibrated first. A series of pot experiments and field trials were
conducted over two year period to collect all vital information related to Vetiver
calibration at Gelita Australia food processing factory and Teys Bros beef abattoir (Smeal,
et al. 2003). From these results, Vetiver has been adopted and successfully used to
treat/dispose of effluent generated by the factory and the abattoir.

Gelita Australia, a gelatin factory in Queensland, Australia, which extracts gelatin from
cattle hide using chemical processes involving strong acids, lime and hydroxides. The
effluent from the processing plant, 1.3 ML day-1, is highly saline (average 600 mS cm-1),
alkaline and has a high organic matter content. The MEDLI computer model output based
on an assumed maximum annual effluent output of 584 ML, N concentration of 300 mg L-
1
and 121 ha available for irrigation showed that Vetiver requires the least land for

44
Vetiver planting would provide an improvement of 55% over Kikuyu in planting area
(Truong and Smeal, 2003). A field trial was conducted at Teys Bros to investigate the
effectiveness of Vetiver in treating wastewater; the result of this study is presented in
Table 9.

Table 9. Effectiveness of Vetiver planting on quality of effluent seepage at Teys Bros

abattoir.
Outlet
Analytes Inlet (mean levels in monitoring bores down slope from inlet)
20 m 50 m
pH 8.0 6.5 6.3
-1
EC (µS cm ) 2200 1500 1600
-1
Total Kjel. N (mg L ) 170 11.0 10.0
-1
Total N (mg L ) 170 17.5 10.6
-1
Total P (mg L ) 32 3.4 1.5

5.2.2. Wastewater from intensive animal farm

In China, the disposal of wastewater from intensive animal farms is one of the biggest
problems in densely populated areas. China is the largest pig raising country in the world.
In 1998, Guangdong Province had more than 1600 pig farms with more than 130 farms
producing over 10,000 commercial pigs each year. These large piggeries produce 100 -
150 ton of wastewater each day, which included pig manure collected from slatted floors,
containing high nutrient loads. Nutrients and heavy metals from pig farm are key sources
of water pollution. Wastewater from pig farm contains very high N and P and also Cu and
Zn, which are used as growth promoters in the feeds. Wetlands are considered to be the
most efficient means of reducing both the volume and high nutrient loads of the piggery
effluent. To determine the most suitable plants for the wetland system, Vetiver grass was
selected along with other 11 species in this program. The best species are Vetiver,
Cyperus alternifolius and Cyperus exaltatus. However, further testing showed that
Cyperus exaltatus wilted and became dormant during autumn and did not rejuvenate until
next spring. Full year growth is required for effective wastewater treatment. Therefore,

46
5.2.4. Wastewater from a small paper factory
In North Vietnam, wastewater discharged from a small paper factory at Bac Ninh
province and a small nitrogen fertilizer factory at Bac Giang province is as highly polluted
with nutrients and chemicals. The factories release their wastewater directly into a small
river in the Red River Delta. Installed at both sites of the storage ponds, Vetiver became
well established after two months. In general, Vetiver at the paper factory at Bac Ninh is
in good shape, except for a few sections next to the polluted water, where it shows
symptoms of toxicity. On the other hand, despite the highly polluted conditions, Vetiver is
established and growing well at the nitrogen fertilizer factory at Bac Giang. Excellent
growth has been recorded for this site under semi-wetland conditions, where Vetiver is
expected to reduce pollutant levels significantly (Figure 31).

Figure 31. Vetiver at Bac Ninh (left) and Bac Giang (right).

5.2.5. Wastewater from a tapioca flour mill factory

In Thailand, three ecotypes of Vetiver (Monto, Sura Thani and Songkhla 2003) were used
to treat wastewaters from a tapioca flour-mill factory. Two systems of treatment were
employed, namely: (i) holding wastewater in a Vetiver wetland for two weeks and then
drained off, and (ii) holding wastewater in a Vetiver wetland for one week and drain it off
continuously for a total of 3 weeks. It was found that in both systems, Monto ecotype had
the highest growth of shoot, root, and biomass, and was able to absorb highest levels of P,
K, Mn and Cu in the shoot and root, Mg, Ca and Fe in the root, and Zn and N in the shoot.

48
Surat Thani ecotype could absorb highest levels of Mg in the shoot and Zn in the root,
while Songkhla ecotype could absorb highest levels of Ca, Fe in the shoot, and N in the
root maximally (Chomchalow, 2006).

5.2.6. Phenol contaminated water from illegal dumping of industrial waste

Over the last few years, illegal dumping of industrial waste and wastewater has become a
major environmental problem in Thailand. At least 6 illegal dumping sites of phenol were
discovered in Nong-Nea subdistrict, Phanom Sarakham district, Chachoengsao province.
The pond of Mr Manus Sawasdee, a Nong-Nea resident who is a victim of illegal dumping,
was illegal discharged with industrial wastewater with high concentration of phenol (500
mg l-1 at the beginning of the incident), and other hazardous organic substances, such as
petroleum hydrocarbons, formaldehyde, as well as metals, namely arsenic, chromium,
copper, lead, and nickel. As Mr Manus’s pond is at high elevation, the runoff after raining
from this pond would carry phenol and other hazardous substances along Tad Noi creek to
lower waterways (Phenrat et al., 2015).

The first large-scale application of vetiver grass for treatment of phenol contaminated water
was performed by cultivating 0.12 million vetiver grass bare roots to create 1.2-kilometer
vetiver hedgerows along Tad Noi Creek from August 28–29, 2014. Similarly, a field-scale
treatment of illegally dumped wastewater in a 768-cubic meter pond of Mr Manus using
vetiver grass grown on 45 floating bamboo platforms was performed on December 5, 2014.
The preliminary results of these projects were very promising in term of phenol, total
petroleum hydrocarbon and COD removal. Such environmental restoration projects can be a
model for the more than 50 communities recently affected by illegal dumping in Thailand
(Phenrat et al., 2015) (Figure 32).

49
 Figure 32. Farm water supply pond infected by Phenol and Vetiver pontoons treatment.

5.2.7. Wastewater from oil processing factory

In Colombia, Ecopetrol company set up a pilot-scale test to investigate the potential of
Vetiver to remove fats, oils and suspended solids from wastewater generated during the oil
production process. Vetiver was grown on the floating platform of an artificial wetland with
dimensions of 6 m x 2 m x 1 m, water level kept at 0.6 m and water flow rate of 0.24 L
second-1. Preliminary results obtained in the period of 32 to 49 days after cultivation
indicated that Vetiver on floating platform could remove 73 - 100% of fats and oils and 29 –
75% of suspended solids with the input range of 0.33 – 5.23 and 1.7 – 18 mg L-1,
respectively. The study is still continuing and expected to test the behaviour of the system
and removal rates for other physical and chemical parameters. Up to date, the results are
satisfactory for the treatment of waters associated with the production of oil and it is the first
experimental practice using Vetiver wetland in Colombia case (Triana et al 2010).

5.2.8. Wastewater from a palm oil mill factory

Vetiver System Technology has been recently investigated in Malaysia to treat palm oil
mill effluent (POME) in an attempt to reduce biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and
chemical oxygen demand (COD). POME is the product of the extraction and purification
of palm oil processes that is characterized by high BOD3 (350-400 mg L-1) and COD
(790-810 mg L-1) (Darajeh et al., 2014). In this study, two different concentrations of
POME (high: undiluted POME, low: volume ratio of 1 POME and 9 water) were treated
with Vetiver plants for 2 weeks. The results showed that Vetiver was able to reduce the

50
5.2.11. Wastewater from a mixture of laboratory and sewage source
Tran et al. (2015) investigated Vetiver grass phytoremediation capacity in treating three
groups of pollutants in wastewater containing organic matters, heavy metals and aromatic
compounds. Sewage effluent (SE) was firstly dilluted with tapwater with a volume ratio
of 1:1, and fed to two wetland systems, mini horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) and
floating raft (FR) wetlands, for 8 weeks. Then laboratory wastewater (LW) was mixed
with sewage effluent a volume ratio of 1:1, the mixture was added into two systems.
Hydraulic retention time (HRT) in both systems were controlled as long as 12 hours.
Quality parameters of sewage effluent and laboratory wastewater are presented in Table
11.

HSSF results revealed that even with the presence of heavy metals and aromatic
compounds, Vetiver presented reasonable removal efficiencies of about 62%, 68.6%, and
58.3% for BOD, total N, and total P removal, respectively. For Vetiver roots, in term of
heavy metals, had an impressive removal efficiencies of 99.2, 95.8, 96.2, and 96.7% of
Cr+6 (in K2Cr2O7), Mn2+ (MnSO4), Fe2+ (FeSO4), and Cu2+ (CuSO4), respectively. For
aromatic compounds, the wetland is responsible for 96.8 % and almost 100% of
correspondingly phenol and benzene removal efficiencies.

In FR wetland, the outcomes show similar tendencies in treatment as in HSSF wetland.

Vetiver grass, mainly responsible for organic matters and nutrients removal, presented
slightly lower removal efficiencies than those in HSSF wetland. The average values of
removal efficiencies were 59%, 63.5%, and 53.0% for BOD, TN, and TP removal,
respectively. For heavy metals of Cr+6 (in K2Cr2O7), Mn2+ (MnSO4), Fe2+ (FeSO4), and
Cu2+ (CuSO4) Vetiver root were found removing less than in HSSF wetland, with average
removal efficiencies values of 92.4, 85.1, 91.8, and 91.5%, respectively.

53
 Table 10. The removal of contaminants from public untreated dumpsite,
fertilizer companyand quarry site effluent in Eastern Nigeria by Vetiver grass
(Chrysopogon zizanioides). Source Oku et al., (2015).

Public untreated dumpsite Fertilizer company

Quarry site effluent
effluent effluent

Parameter/ Level of contaminants Level of contaminants Level of contaminants

contaminants after certain days of after certain days of after certain days of
-1 -1 -1
Vetiver treatment (mg l ) Vetiver treatment (mg l ) Vetiver treatment (mg l )

0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6 0 2 4 6

pH 5.8 6.7 7.3 7.3 6.3 6.5 6.8 7.5 12.8 12.4 8.3 7.2

BOD 153 67.8 50.5 50 41.6 19.6 14.5 11.3 124.3 61.2 54.8 50.5

COD 151.8 68.5 52.1 47.8 29.8 16 13.3 10.6 119.8 56.5 52.5 50.8

Nitrate 115.6 51.6 47.6 42.9 122.2 58.7 28.4 7.4 120.8 53.8 18.1 5.9

Phosphate 92.9 52.7 41 40.7 55.1 36.5 15.3 12.1 64.7 40.7 10.7 4.6

Cyanide 1.02 0.71 0.09 0.06 nd nd nd nd Nd Nd nd nd

Lead nd Nd Nd nd nd nd nd nd 0.3 0.26 0.07 0.01

Zinc 0.05 Nd Nd nd 0.89 0.38 0.06 0.03 0.18 0.073 nd nd

Iron 1.04 0.68 0.06 0.02 0.31 0.37 nd nd 0.83 0.3 nd nd

Cobalt 0.1 0.07 Nd nd 0.09 nd nd nd 0.04 0.04 nd nd

Cadmium nd Nd Nd nd 0.2 0.07 nd nd Nd Nd nd nd

Mercury nd Nd Nd nd Nd nd nd nd Nd Nd nd nd

Manganese 0.14 0.05 0.04 0.01 0.2 0.08 0.05 0.04 0.21 0.08 0.06 nd

Arsenic 0.1 0.05 0.05 nd 0.2 0.07 nd nd 0.2 0.11 nd nd

Nickel nd Nd Nd nd Nd nd nd nd Nd Nd nd nd

Copper nd Nd Nd nd Nd nd nd nd Nd Nd nd nd

Note: nd not detected

54
 Table 11. Quality analysis of sewage effluent and laboratory wastewater.

Parameter/contaminants SE LW Mixture

pH 6.2 5.5 6.0 ± 0.2

-1
BOD (mg l ) 420 15 220 ± 12
-1
Total N (mg l ) 65 34 55 ± 3
-1
Total P (mg l ) 10 12 11 ± 2
+6 -1
Cr (mg l ) Nd 9.5 4.5 ± 0.4
2+ -1
Fe (mg l ) Nd 38.5 19.8 ± 0.3
2+ -1
Mn (mg l ) Nd 47.0 24.2 ± 0.6
2+ -1
Cu (mg l ) Nd 35.1 17.6 ± 0.7
-1
Benzene (mg l ) Nd 4.3 2.3 ± 0.4
-1
Phenol (mg l ) Nd 7.8 3.8 ± 0.2

Note: nd not detected.

5.3. Disposal of landfill leachate

Disposal of landfill leachate is a major concern to all large cities, as the leachate is often
highly contaminated with heavy metals, organic and inorganic pollutants. Results in
Australia, Mexico, the United States and Iran showed that Vetiver growth is not affected
by this highly polluted water and grows vigorously.

5.3.1. Landfill leachate disposal in Australia

Stotts Creek Landfill is a major waste depot of the Tweed Shire, New South Wales,
Australia. Disposal of leachate is a major concern of the Shire as the landfill site is close
to agricultural areas. An effective and low cost leachate disposal system was needed,
particularly during summer high rainfall season. Following capping with topsoil, Vetiver
was planted on the surface of landfill mound and irrigated with leachate from collecting
ponds (Figure 35). Results to date have been excellent. In the second year, Vetiver with 3
m high forming the thick and tall walls was recorded. The growth was so vigorous that
during the dry period, there was not enough leachate in the ponds to irrigate both the old
and new plantings. A planting of 3.5 ha in January 2003 has effectively disposed of 4 ML
a month in summer and 2 ML a month in winter (Percy and Truong, 2005).

55
effective system was further complicated due to the extreme rainfall at this facility, which
is located along the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico (Truong et al, 2012).

Figure 36. Early stage of Vetiver establishment at Leon (left) and Poza Rica (right).

5.3.3. Landfill leachate disposal in Morocco

A very large new landfill complex at Oujda City, near the eastern border of Morocco and
Algeria, is being built. When various options were considered for the disposal of a highly
concentrated leachate, a product of combined industrial and domestic wastes, Vetiver was
recommended and is being implemented now (Figure 37).

Figure 37. Fresh industrial and domestic wastes being compacted (left) and site ready for Vetiver
planting (Etienne Richards, pers.com.).

57
5.3.4. Landfill leachate disposal in the United States
In the USA, Leggette, Brashears & Graham, Inc. has used hybrid poplar very successfully
as a phytoremediation method near St. Louis and Chicago. After learning about Vetiver,
the company switched to grass from trees and used Vetiver at the Republic Services Gulf
Pines landfill near Biloxi, Mississippi. The phytoremediation system using VS was set up
to utilize up to 14 ML year-1 (3 million gallons) of leachate. This was the first of its kind
for large-scale project in the US and Western Hemisphere to use Vetiver grass (Truong et
al., 2012). From a technical standpoint, the approach blended numerous disciplines
including engineering, hydrology, microbiology, plant physiology/morphology, soil
science, agronomy, chemistry, hydrology, and computer science (PLC programming and
evapotranspiration modeling). With an area of 3 acre cultivated with over 50,000 Vetiver
plants (Figure 38), the system has performed as designed and 100% of leachate generated
has been utilized on site, well ahead of anticipated results.

Figure 38. Vetiver growth after 7 weeks (left), the approach greatly reduces costs in an
environmentally friendly manner.

The results to date have exceeded expectation in term of utilization and cost saving:
• Approximately 500,000 gal processed in first 4 months, greater than 1 million in
the first year
• $150,000 transportation and disposal costs avoided in the first year
• Pre-Vetiver leachate disposal cost = $0.09 gal-1
• Post-Vetiver leachate disposal cost ≤ $0.01 gal-1
• Return on initial capital investment: only 2 - 3 years

58
 • $3 million expected savings over 30 years

Due to the outstanding performance, this project was awarded a “2012 Grand Prize –
Small project for Excellence in Environmental Engineering” by American Academy of
Environmental Engineers (http://www.aaee.net/E32012GPSmallProjects.php).

5.3.5. Landfill leachate disposal in Iran

Vetiver has been demonstrated to survive and adapt well to the harsh conditions of landfill
located in Shiraz city, one of the biggest cities in Iran (Jalalipour et al., 2015). The
landfill has a total area of 40 ha. It has a semi-arid climate with mild winters and average
annual precipitation of 389 mm mainly in autumn and winter. Average temperatures in the
coldest and warmest months range from 6.7 to 28.2°C. Potential evapotranspiration is 5
mm per day and 1,825 mm per year. Average annual wind speed is 200 km/h at 2 m
height (Master plan of Shiraz solid waste management, 2009). The landfill was estimated
to generate about 120 m3 of leachate per day in 2013. The leachate, with high organic
content (BOD5, COD), high concentration of heavy metals, ammonia, toxic compounds,
bacterial contamination and unpleasant odor creates environmental and health problems,
unseemly sights and adverse effects on soil and water resources. To reduce the adverse
impacts of landfill leachate, green vegetation was established on 20 ha of the landfill site
with fruit and fruitless trees in 2000. In addition, 780 ha of olive trees and 100 ha of
forestry trees (eucalyptus, pine and cypress) were cultivated around the landfill. However,
the green cover failed to remediate leachate due to dry conditions, high wind speed and
toxic characteristics of leachate. Vetiver phytoremediation technology (VPT), a simple
and affordable solution, has been attempted to control the quantity of landfill leachate. In
a field trial to test Vetiver adaptability to Shiraz landfill environment, Vetiver was
cultivated on about 45 m2 of an open cell (fully loaded with solid wastes and covered with
3-4 m of soil). Results of this trial showed that Vetiver established and grew well and its
growth was not affected by strong winds, while olives (Figure 39) and eucalyptus trees
were adversely affected. The results of a greenhouse experiment showed that Vetiver can
tolerate irrigation with 45% of leachate. In addition, cultivation of Vetiver in large scale
offers a pleasant view as an additional advantage, as well as to become a very effective
soil and water conservation measure. It can be concluded that Vetiver grass cultivation is
the best option for Shiraz landfill capping after closing.

59
 Figure 39. Olive (left) and Vetiver grown on Shiraz landfill.

5.4. Municipal landfill leachate seepage control

Vetiver grass is also very effective in controlling leachate seeping from the side slopes of
a 30 years old landfill mounds in Cleveland, Queensland, Australia. This seepage was
highly contaminated with Cr, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. It would eventually run into a nearby
creek. One year after planting, Vetiver showed excellent growth that was not affected by
heavy metals contamination in the leachate, and completely stopped the leachate seepage
(Figure 40).

Similarly, Vetiver has been successfully applied to control seeping leachate from a landfill
in Guangdong province, China as well as to stabilize its dam wall. The landfill was built
in a valley with a surface area of over 23 ha and currently takes 2500 tons of waste a day
from Guangzhou City. Two earthen walls of the landfill were built across the valley floor
with semi-weathered rocks and clay but they were not properly designed and well-built as
normal dam walls. The city garbage was then dumped and compressed into the space
between the two walls. As the garbage reached a few meters high, the surface was
covered with earth followed by the heavy geo-membrane to cover the whole surface.
Once the space was completely filled with wastes, the two walls were raised to take more
garbage. The walls are now 75 m high and 100 m long, and under very high pressure
caused by both the large amount of garbage and heavy machinery working on the surface
layer. Consequently, a large quantity of leachate seeped through the wall causing slippage
and erosion in rainy season. Previous efforts to stabilize the wall by using both native and
imported plant specieshave failed because of the toxic nature of the leachate. Vetiver was

60
per plant. All corn was 100% extra quality. This is a very significant result since
previously sweet corn cannot be grown in this valley. Lettuce had a yield of 4 boxes (12-
14 lettuces) every 10 linear meters. For melon the average was 3 melons per plant of 2nd
class. For Cristal chili pepper, yield reached 70-80 fruits per plant of first class.

• A soil test was established in pots with 6 replications that were irrigated with
different boron concentrations. The treatments consisted in T1; 1 mg/L, T2; 20 mg/L, T3;
50 mg/L; T4; 100 mg/L. The pots were irrigated for 3 months and samples were taken
every 4 weeks for soil and leaves analyses. Efficiency percentage at 3rd month were: T1;
66.3%, T2; 91%, T3; 95%, T4; 96.5%.

It was concluded that Vetiver Phytoremediation Technology is a technology capable of

remediating boron toxicity, allowing the introduction of new crops and improvement of
crop yields in valleys of Arica Parinacota Province (Figure 42).

Figure 42. Irrigation pool with Vetiver floats, left. Extra quality sweet corn, right

VI. PREVENTION, TREATMENT AND REHABILITATION OF MINING

WASTES AND CONTAMINATED LANDS

There have been increasing concerns in Australia and worldwide on the contamination of
the environment by by-products of rural, industrial and mining industries. The majority
of these contaminants are high levels of heavy metals which can affect flora, fauna and
humans living in the areas, in the vicinity or downstream of the contaminated sites. Table
12 shows the maximum levels of heavy metals tolerated by environmental and health
authorities in Australia and New Zealand.

63
Concerns about the spreading of these contaminants have resulted in strict guidelines
being set to prevent the increasing concentrations of heavy metal pollutants. In some cases
industrial and mining projects have been stopped until appropriate methods of
decontamination or rehabilitation have been implemented at the source.

Methods used in these situations have been to treat the contaminants chemically, burying
or to remove them from the site. These methods are expensive and at times impossible to
carry out, as the volume of contaminated material is very large, examples are gold and
coal mine tailings.

If these wastes cannot be economically treated or removed, off-site contamination must be

prevented. Wind and water erosion and leaching are often the causes of off-site
contamination. An effective erosion and sediment control program can be used to
rehabilitate such sites. Vegetative methods are the most practical and economical,
however, revegetation of these sites is often difficult and slow due to the hostile growing
conditions including high concentrations of heavy metals and pollutants, extreme pH, low
nutrients, high salinity, low or high moisture soil content and coarse or fine soil texture.

In term of environmental protection, the most significant breakthroughs in the last 20

years are firstly research leading to the establishment of benchmark tolerance levels of
Vetiver grass to adverse soil conditions and secondly its tolerance to heavy metal
toxicities. These have opened up a new field of application for VS: treatment of mining
wastes and contaminated lands by rehabilitation.

64
 Table 12. Thresholds for contaminants in soils (ANZ, 1992).

Threshold (mg kg-1)

Heavy metals
Environmental* Health*
Antimony (Sb) 20 -
Arsenic (As) 20 100
Cadmium (Cd) 3 20
Chromium (Cr) 50 -
Copper (Cu) 60 -
Lead (Pb) 300 300
Manganese (Mn) 500 -
Mercury (Hg) 1 -
Nickel (Ni) 60 -
Tin (Sn) 50 -
Zinc (Zn) 200 -
*Maximum levels permitted, above which investigations are required.

Soil disturbance on mine-sites inevitably leads to erosion and to the transport of sand, silt
and clay particles in runoff water. This sediment load has the potential to cause
environmental harm further downstream. Trapping and retaining the sediment on the
mining lease is a legal requirement.

The underlying principle behind sediment control is to reduce the velocity of runoff water.
This causes suspended soil particles to settle out. The larger course sand particles settle
first, followed by fine sand, silt and then clay. Some clay particles may stay in suspension
and can only be precipitated using chemicals such as gypsum.

Conventional control measures to reduce the velocity of storm water include engineered
structures such as diversion drains and silt traps (sometimes called silt or sediment
retention ponds), hay bales and silt mesh fences are used for short-term silt traps. On
some mine sites, ‘dirty’ storm-water is filtered by channeling it through a wetland. A
series of small sediment traps is more effective than one big one. The separation of ‘clean’
and ‘dirty’ water is an important principle.

Vetiver grass can be used in almost any situation where erosion control or sediment
control is required. Several hedges can be planted across a gully at strategic points.

65
Further down the slope, the effectiveness of a conventional silt trap can be increased by
planting Vetiver hedges across the spillway. A double row of Vetiver is more effective
than a single row.

Followings are case studies of applying Vetiver grass for reclamation of mining wastes
and contaminated lands around the world.

6.1. Gold mine

Vetiver was successfully used for a large-scale application to control dust storm and wind
erosion on a 300 ha dam of fresh gold tailings at Kidston gold mine, Queensland,
Australia. Typically, fresh gold tailings are alkaline (pH 8-9), low in plant nutrients and
very high in free sulphate (830 mg kg-1), sodium and total sulphur (1-4%). When dry the
finely ground tailings material can be easily blown away by wind storms if not protected
by a surface cover (Figure 43). As gold tailings are often contaminated with heavy metals,
wind erosion control is a very important factor in stopping the contamination of the
surrounding environment. The usual method of wind erosion control in Australia is by
establishing a vegetative cover, but due to the highly hostile nature of the tailings,
revegetation is very difficult and often failed when native species are used. The short term
solution to the problem is to plant a cover crop such as millet or sorghum with protecting
fences to promote crop establishment (Figure 44), however this approach does not last
very long (Figure 45). Vetiver can offer a long term solution by planting into rows at
spacing of 10 m to 20 m to reduce wind velocity and at the same time provide a less
hostile environment, such as shading and moisture conservation, for crop establishment at
the beginning and local native species to establish voluntarily later (Figure 46). Vetiver
established and grew very well on these tailings without fertilizers, but growth was
improved by the application of 500 kg ha-1 of DAP.

66
Similarly, in field trials Vetiver showed good establishment on old gold mine tailings at
Kidston gold mine that are commonly characterized by extreme acid (pH 2.5 – 3.5), high
in heavy metals and low in nutrients. These tailings are often the source of contaminants
for both above-ground and under-ground to local environment. Table 11 shows the heavy
metal profile of gold mine tailings in Australia. At these levels some of these metals are
toxic to plant growth and also exceed the environmental investigation thresholds (ANZ,
1992). Furthermore, the bare soil surface is highly erodible (Figure 47). Therefore,
revegetation of these tailings is very difficult and often very expensive. The field trials of
Vetiver were conducted on two old (8 year) gold tailings sites. One is typified by a soft
surface and the other with a hard crusty layer. The soft top site had a pH of 3.6, sulphate
at 0.37% and total sulfur at 1.31%. The hard top site had a pH of 2.7, sulphate at 0.85%
and total sulfur at 3.75% and both sites were low in plant nutrients. Results from both
sites indicated that when adequately supplied with nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers
(300 kg ha-1 of DAP) excellent growth of Vetiver was obtained on the soft top site without
any liming. But the addition of 5 t ha-1 of agricultural lime significantly improved Vetiver
growth. Although Vetiver survived without liming on the hard top site, the addition of
lime (20 t ha-1) and fertilizer (500 kg ha-1 of DAP) improved Vetiver growth greatly
(Figure 47).

Table 13. Heavy metal contents of representative gold mine tailings in Australia

Heavy metals Total contents (mg Kg-1) Threshold levels (mg Kg-1)
Arsenic 1120 20
Chromium 55 50
Copper 156 60
Manganese 2 000 500
Lead 353 300
Strontium 335 Not available
Zinc 283 200

69
Vetiver system has been successfully applied to rehabilitate gold mine tailings dam in
South Africa (Figure 49 and 50). Recently, Vetiver has also been applied at Anglo
America gold mine in Guinea, West Africa (Figure 51).

Figure 49. Gold mine tailings dam before (left) and after three month of Vetiver planting (right)
(Tony Tantum pers.com.).

72
sodicity and extremely low content of nitrogen and phosphorous. In addition, it also
contained high level of soluble sulfur, magnesium, calcium as well as plant available
copper, zinc and iron. Five salt tolerant species were used in the study, namely Vetiver,
marine couch (Sporobolus virginicus), common reed grass (Phragmites australis),
cumbungi (Typha domingensi) and Sarcocornia spp. After 210 days of cultivation,
complete mortality was recorded for all species except Vetiver and marine couch. The
survival of Vetiver was significantly increased by mulching, however fertilizer application
had no effect. The combination of mulching and fertilizers increased growth of Vetiver by
2 t ha-1 which was almost 10 times higher than that of marine couch (Radloff et al., 1995).
The results confirm the findings from glass house trials.

Figure 55. Vetiver survived after 210 days of cultivation.

Recently, Vetiver grass technology has been applied at coal mines in South Kalimantan,
Indonesia with three distinct purposes.
1. Rehabilitation of coal mine tailings slopes and embankment: the tailings are
characterized by low fertility, sandy texture with the slope of 27%. It is too
difficult for revegetation even with hydroseeding technology. The preliminary
results after four months of cultivation showed that Vetiver grew well on the slope

76
Several field trials were conducted to investigate the establishment of Vetiver grass on
one of the major disturbed areas of this mine and the effectiveness of Vetiver hedges in
spreading concentrated flows and trapping sediment over major flow areas, in providing a
support mechanism for other plant growth and in reducing signs of visible erosion (Bevan
et al., 2000). It is due to the fact that one of the main environmental concerns associated
with bentonite mining is the effect of run-off water from disturbed areas to surrounding
catchments, particularly with sediment being the principal transport mechanism for a
range of pollutants entering water courses (Kingett et al., 1995).

With adequate supply of fertilizers and water, Vetiver successfully established on the
tailings (Figure 60). The Vetiver hedge was very effective in trapping both coarse and
fine sediment, reduced visible signs of erosion and conserved soil moisture. Importantly,
the combination of these effects contributed to the improvement of seedbed conditions
resulting in the establishment of indigenous species.

Table 14. Chemical analyses of bentonite mine overburden and wastes in Miles,
Queensland, Australia.

Analyses Overburden Bentonite waste

pH 5.4 5.4
EC (mS cm-1) 0.18 0.14
Cl (mg kg-1) 135 47.4
NO3-N (mg kg-1) 1.9 0.7
P (mg kg-1) 2 5
SO4-S (mg kg-1) 66 101
Ca (meq 100-1g-1) 0.19 0.93
Mg (meq 100-1g-1) 4.75 6.44
Na (meq 100-1g-1) 2.7 7.19
K (meq 100-1g-1) 0.16 0.43
Organic matter (%) 0.45 0.35
ESP (%) 35 48
Note: EC electrical conductivity, ESP exchangeable sodium percentage.

79
Figure 61. Vetiver at three weeks after planting with only amendment of nitrogen and
phosphorous fertilizers.

Figure 62. Good establishment of Vetiver on residue sand except some extremely caustic spots.

Currently, the use of Vetiver has been incorporated into the general policy of CVG
Bauxilum open-cut bauxite mine, located in Los Pijiguaos, Bolivar State, Venezuela, for
mitigating the impact of mining activities on environment and the local community due to
its success after three years of cultivation (Luque et al., 2006). The characteristics of soils
at this mine are extremely low in plant nutrients and organic matters, variably physical
conditions according to physiographic positions, in general of a high readability, and pH
values of 4-5. Vetiver can grow well on such soils leading to its success in several
applications. Firstly, Vetiver has effectively controlled the erosion occurred on various
gradient slopes, gullies, border drains, the soil-concrete interfaces and roadside ditches
located in a very erodible ground and high rainfall zone. Secondly, Vetiver barriers

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formed in the roadside ditches have reverted the erosion process by catching sediments
and forming terraces. Finally, Vetiver barriers have reinforced lagoon dikes and also acted
as sediment filters (Figure 63-65). Consequently, Vetiver has reduced the amounts of
sediments released from mining operations into the surrounding water courses and
promoted the establishment of other native plant species. For erosion control, a total of
26300 m of Vetiver barriers were planted from 2003 to June 2006 and another 7400 m of
Vetiver barriers have been subsequently planted. The huge amount of cultivated Vetiver
plants at this mining site has offered a great opportunity for the local communities, which
have been affected by mining activities, in term of economic and environmental aspects.
The locals have been trained to be craftsmen by using Vetiver leaves (that are frequently
harvested to maintain Vetiver growth) for the production of handicrafts (Figure 66). They
have been also taught to commercialize their elaborated products. These activities have
contributed to the income of the locals. Particularly, Vetiver leaves have replaced the
leaves of the moriche palm (Mauritania flexuosa), ancestrally used by different
Venezuelan ethnic groups for the handcrafts preparation. The moriche palm plays a vital
role in this ecosystem, however the permanent exploitation of the leaves has significantly
decreased its population. In conclusion, during the past three years CVG Bauxilum has
successfully adopted the VST for land rehabilitation and environmental protection to
restore this open cut bauxite mining site of Venezuela, to a desirable environmentally
friendly level (Luque et al., 2006).

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Figure 63. Various slopes (left) stabilized by Vetiver (right). Source: Luque et al., 2006.

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At Lo Aguirre mining site, after 3 months of planting about 80% of cultivated Vetiver
plants survived and grew well on highly contaminated copper waste rocks and tailings
dams, but some of them were grazed by rabbits and horses (Figure 67). After five years of
cultivation, a poor survival rate of Vetiver recorded (15%) was mainly due to dehydration
and herbivores (Figure 68). Many plants were observed with unrecoverable damage and
some with complete disappearance. However, the survived plants were not noticed with
any damage and showed good development with plant height of over 100 cm. There was
no significant difference observed between Vetiver planted with and without topsoil. The
findings provided an important evidence that Vetiver can survive strong aridity and
intense cold in 4 years since its planting. The dry plants shown in Figure 68 are the
dormant form of Vetiver in winter and they will regrow upon the arrival of spring season.
The study also confirmed that Vetiver can grow well at an elevated place with the altitude
of 3,500 m.

Figure 67. Vetiver establishment on copper waste rocks (left) and Vetiver grazed by herbivores
(right) after 3 months of cultivation. Source: Arochas et al, 2010.

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Figure 68. Vetiver growth (left) and grazed (right) by herbivores after 5 years of establishment.
Source: Arochas et al, 2010.

At El Soldado mining site, all Vetiver plants survived on sand tailings and reached a
height of about 35 cm after 2 months of cultivation (Figure 69). However, after 5 years of
establishment without irrigation (except the first 7 months after planting) and fertilization,
only 25% of Vetiver was observed to be survive (Figure 70) with the extensive root
system of about 85 cm depth (Figure 71). It may be concluded that majority of Vetiver
cannot adapt to the hostile conditions of new planting site without irrigation and
fertilization in a long period.

Figure 69. The growth of Vetiver on copper sand tailings after 2 months of planting. Source:
Arochas et al, 2010.

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6.6. Lead/zinc mines

Lechang lead (Pb)/ zinc (Zn) mine in the northern part of Guangdong Province, PR China,
employs the underground mining operation that covers an area of 1.5 km2, and produces
approximately 30,000 tonnes of tailings annually with a dumping area of 60,000 m2 (Shu
and Xial., 2003). The climate of this mine is subtropical and the annual rainfall is about
1,500 mm. The Pb/Zn tailings contained high concentrations of heavy metals (total Pb,
Zn, Cu and Cd concentrations 4164, 4377, 35 and 32 mg kg-1 respectively), and low
contents of major nutrient elements (N, P, and K) and organic matters. The toxicity of
heavy metals and deficiency of major nutrients represent the main limiting factors for
plant establishment on mine tailings.

A field trial was conducted to compare the growth of four grasses (Vetiveria zizanioides,
Paspalum notatum, Cynodon dactylon and Imperata cylindrica var. major) on Lechang
Pb/Zn mine tailings with different amendments, with an ultimate goal of screening the
most useful grass and the most effective measure for revegetation of tailings (Shu and
Xia, 2003). The results showed that the height and biomass of Vetiver were significantly
greater than those of the other three grasses. In other words, the growth performance of
Vetiver was the best among the tested species under the same amendment (Figure 72).
The domestic refuse and NPK fertilizer could improve plant growth, and their
combination achieved the best growth. After six months, Vetiver under the treatment of
the domestic refuse and NPK fertilizer had 100% coverage and the dry yield of 2111 gm-2.
The metal analysis showed that the concentrations of Pb, Zn and Cu in shoots and roots of
Vetiver were significantly less than those of the other three species, and the shoot/root
metal concentration quotients for Pb, Zn and Cu in Vetiver were also lower than those of
other three species. These results indicated that Vetiver was more suitable for
phytostabilization of toxic mined lands than P. notatum and C. dactylon, which
accumulated a relatively high level of metals in their shoots and roots.

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Figure 72. The superior growth of Vetiver on Pb/Zn mine tailings as compared to other grasses.
Source: Shu and Xia, 2003.

Another field trial was also conducted at Lechang Pb/Zn mine but at a different tailings
pond to evaluate the effect of applying domestic refuse and NPK fertilizer on Vetiver
growth, and to compare the growth performance and heavy metal accumulation of Vetiver
and two legume species (Sesbania rostrata and S. sesban) (Shu and Xia, 2003). Biomass
of Vetiver significantly increased after the application of domestic refuse, and Vetiver
grew best in tailings amended with domestic refuse and NPK fertilizer (1,111 g m-2). The
results further indicated that domestic refuse was a useful ameliorative material for
improving physio-chemical characters of the toxic tailings. Among the three plants tested,
Vetiver had the highest tolerance to metal toxicities (Figure 73) and accumulated the
lowest concentrations of heavy metals in the shoots among the three species. This species
was considered more suitable for stabilizing mine tailings, with the danger of transferring
toxic metals to grazing animals was minimal (Yang et al., 2003).

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 Figure 73. The growth of Vetiver and two legumes on Pb/Zn tailings.

Vetiver grass has been successfully applied to rehabilitate the contaminated land
surrounding Shaoguan Pb/Zn smelting factory in the north of Guangdong province, about
50 km away from Lechang Pb/Zn mine (Shu and Xia, 2003). The dust and gas has
emitted from Pb/Zn smelter-refinery processes contained high concentrations of SO2 and
heavy metals, such as Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu, that has exerted adverse effects on the
surrounding ecosystems. The soils around the factory were strongly acidified with pH 3 -
4.9, and contained high concentrations of Pb and Zn (total Pb and Zn: over 1200 mg kg-1,
and the DTPA-extractable Pb and Zn: over 100 mg kg-1), leading to the completely
devoid of vegetation on the surrounding land and subsequent water erosion. Many
attempts, from both the factory and academic institutions, were done to re-vegetate the
contaminated area with over forty plant species (including trees, shrubs and grasses).
Unfortunately, most of them failed due to the hostile soil and air conditions, and only
several plants (include Paulownia tomentosa, Leucaena glauca, Nerium indicum,
Paederia scandens, Cynodon dactylon) showed relatively high tolerance of the edaphic
and atmospheric conditions. To improve the growth performance of such plants, about 50
cm of the top soil was mixed with pond sediment and complex NPK fertilizer in order to
dilute heavy metal concentrations and improve soil conditions. The reclamation project
was quite successful after two years of cultivation of mixed plant species. However, the
growth performance was still poor at the severely eroded area with the total canopy cover
of 30-50%, resulting in the failure of erosion control. Vetiver grass was introduced to the
most eroded area in an effort to control the erosion. After five months of cultivation,
Vetiver established well on the contaminated land with the total canopy cover (including

91
P. tomentosa and Vetiver) of about 80%. The results from the later inspection indicated
that the erosion of the area planted with Vetiver was under control (Shu and Xia, 2003).

Chaiwat Phadermrod (2015) reported a highly successful large-scale rehabilitation of a

zinc mine carried out by Padaeng Industry Public Company Limited (PDI) in Mae Sot
District and its refinery is in Tak Province. The mine has grown vetiver for rehabilitation
in the last 12 years concurrent with mining operation. A total of 19.17 million Vetiver
slips were planted. Therefore, PDI mine is one of the biggest mines in Thailand where
Vetiver has been grown to protect the environment. PDI mine is growing 1-2 million
Vetiver slips every year, and planting trees at the same time (Figures 74-75).

Bare soil is planted with Vetiver first for soil rehabilitation, adding more organic matter
into the soil, preventing soil erosion, reducing velocity of runoff water and protecting
moisture in the soil. Then local tree species, such as teak, iron wood, Siamese sal, local
cork tree, orchid tree and others were planted. From 1993 to 2014, an area of 166 ha (or
62% of leases) was rehabilitated at the cost of 63 million Thai Baht, the company will
return the whole area with plantation forest to the Royal Forest Department. The company
hopes that all stakeholders including the surrounding communities will protect the
plantation forest area after post mining for their own benefit forever.

Figure 74. Padaeng mine pit.

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Figure 77. Vetiver planted at vertical interval of 1-1.5 m (top), 6 months after planting and
intercropping with vegetable (bottom).

6.8. Ammonia and nitrate contaminated land

The site, at Bajool, Australia, was contaminated with extremely high levels of ammonia and
nitrate as a result of explosive manufacturing (Table 15). Vetiver grass was applied at this site
as a phytoremediation measure to remove ammonia and nitrate and to stabilise the site,
preventing offsite pollution by runoff with potential to contaminate the local environment.

One year after planting, the results were outstanding despite severe drought, excellent growth
resumed following heavy rain six months later (Figure 78). With this high growth rate, this
planting removed at least 629 kg ha-1 year-1, and possibly much higher, at 1100 kg ha-1 year-
depending on the rain. Hence it is projected that most of the N in the fill will be removed by

95
Vetiver in less than 4 years under favourable weather and at most 6 years under normal
weather conditions.

Table 15. The characteristics of the contaminated site at Bajool, Australia.

Site features Units

Land surface area m2 7300
Soil depth M 2.5 – 3
3
Contaminated soil volume m 20000
-1
Soil ammonia level mg kg Range: 20 – 1220
Average: 620
Soil total nitrogen level mg kg-1 Range: 31 – 5380
Average: 2700
Water ammonia level mg kg-1 Range: 235 – 1150
Exceptional highest value: 12500
Water total nitrogen level mg kg-1 Range: 118 – 7590
Exceptional highest value: 18300

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6.9. Hydrocarbon contaminated land

An oil shale dump, with an area of 667 ha and a depth of several to ten meters, is situated
in the north suburb of Maoming City, Guangdong province, China. The oil shale dump
was mainly composed of oil refined wastes with relatively high contents of organic
matter, up to 3.61%, and mixed with infertile soils coming from oil shale excavation. The
contents of N, P and K nutrients, especially their available contents, were distinctly
scarce. The pH of soil and leachate was quite low, 4 and 3.2, respectively. Heavy metal
concentrations in the soil were from the lowest 0.1 mg kg-1 for Cd to the highest 59.5 mg
kg-1 for Mn. The combination of these adverse physical and chemical features yielded an
environment hostile to organisms and, therefore, it was quite difficult to re-vegetate it
(Xia, 2004).

A field plot trial was conducted to investigate the growth of Vetiver, Bahia, St. Augustine,
and Bana in this oil shale dump amended with inorganic fertilizer and fishpond sludge.
Results indicated that Vetiver had the highest survival rate, up to 99%, followed by Bahia
and St. Augustine, 96% and 91%, respectively, while Bana had the lowest survival rate of
62%. The coverage and biomass of Vetiver were also the highest after 6-month planting.
Fertilizer application significantly increased biomass and tiller number of the four grasses,
of which St. Augustine was promoted most, up to 70% for biomass, while Vetiver was
promoted least, only 27% for biomass. It can be concluded that Vetiver can be sustainably
grown on this hydrocarbon infested tailings with minimal or without fertilizing (Xia,
2004).

6.10. Agricultural chemicals contaminated land

Castorina (2015) conducted a greenhouse experiment comparing the efficiency of Vetiver

and canola (Brassica napus L.) for the phytoremediation of land in the “Valle del sacco”
near Rome, Italy) where the natural soil environment had been altered by agricultural
chemicals and improper disposal of industrial waste, causing a series of diseases in people
and animals (Figure 79).

To assess the uptake of elements by the plants a total content analysis was done of the
soil, followed by an analysis of the extractible fraction in EDTA (ethylene-
diaminetetraacetic acid). The analytical data obtained were used to determine the

98
Translocation Factor (TF) and the Bio-concentration Factor (BF) of each toxic element for
the two plants under the two different agricultural conditions, fertilised and unfertilised
pots.

Analytical results of the soil show that the levels of As, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Pb, V and Zn
were significantly below the acceptable values for commercial and industrial sites. They
are also below the values for public, private and residential green zones, except for lead,
which is at the threshold limit.

The EDTA extractable fractions in soil were in many cases were much more significant,
higher than 10% for Mo, Cu and Cd; and 20% for Pb, Co and Mn. After only a 5-month
growth period, for many elements (e.g. Al, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn) there was a significant
decrease in the EDTA extractable fraction. In some cases (e.g. Ti and V), an increase was
noted in the EDTA extractable fraction in the soil after the plants were extracted, and this
was true for both canola and Vetiver. Moreover, for both plants, soil EC (Electric
Conductivity) decreased after harvesting, by 50% for Vetiver. Phosphate fertilization
increased the TF in both canola and Vetiver.

For many elements, Vetiver showed a higher BF than canola, but the TF was generally
lower compared to canola. While the BF calculated with regard to the total elemental
content are non-significant (very low values), those calculated with regard to the EDTA
extractable fractions are more significant, especially for some elements such as Cr, Ti and
Zn.

99
 Figure 79: Contaminated site and Canola (Brassica napus L.)

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