The Feasibility Study of Water Salinity Reduction by Atriplex Lentiformis Plant in a Zeolite Substrate

There are several methods for desalination which could be divided into two classes of membrane and thermal processes. Other methods are also existed, of which, bioremediation (including phytoremediation), is the most important method. Halophytes are recognized as plants associated with the capability of tolerating those amounts of salt concentrations that could not be tolerated by other plants. Current investigation utilizes Atriplex Lentiformis plant as the purifier and solution of 15000 μS/Cm as the saline water. Three levels of plant density (0, 12, 24 plants) and four retention times (7, 14, 21 and 28 days) were considered in this study. This experiment was carried out without and with the presence of zeolite. Different parameters including; electrical conductivity (EC), concentration of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride ions were measured before and after the treatment and the average reduction percentages of the proposed factors were measured. It was found that the zeolite treatments with 0, 12 and 24 plants reduced the EC 4.1, 13.4and 15.9%, respectively. Also, the concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride ions were reduced 35.9, 25, 18, and 16.9%, respectively.