Removal of Cyanobacteria and Microcystin by Natural Plant-Mineral Combinations in Eutrophic Waters

Abstract

The removal or mitigation of cyanobacterial bloom and cyanotoxins is a necessity to ensure safe drinking water and recreational water. As a feasible agent to control cyanobacterial bloom, a novel plant-mineral composite (PMC) was developed and optimized through laboratory and field testing over the past 3 years. Based on previous studies, we treated cyanobacterial bloom water (mainly Microcystis and Synechocystis) with 0.05 mg/L PMC at the small eutrophic reservoir; 2 h later, we collected samples and analyzed them in the laboratory. The intra-cellular (c-MC) and dissolved microcystin-LR (d-MC) were measured using an ELISA method. The PMC exhibited a remarkable removal of both c-MC (47.3 %) and d-MC (95.8 %) within 2 days. In addition, notable decreases (on average, 78 % of the control) in the chlorophyll-a, suspended solids, total phosphorus and biochemical oxygen demand values, in zooplankton and in the phytoplankton density (83.9 %) were verified after 48 h. These results indicate that the PMC is more effective in controlling d-MC than c-MC, suggesting a possible method to mitigate such hazardous chemicals as agrochemicals and endocrine disrupters in aquatic ecosystems.