Xudong Lan

This study investigated the potential of microbial-assisted phytoremediation using Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) to reduce heavy metal and salinity pollution in produced water collected from Aadi Oil Field in Gujar Khan, Pakistan. Produced water was analyzed for physicochemical parameters and heavy metal content using Inductively Coupled Plasma–Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) to establish baseline data. E. crassipes plants augmented with indigenous, contaminant-tolerant microbial isolates were employed in a 15-day laboratory experiment. The results showed a resilient growth response, with plant height increasing to approximately 11–15 cm and root length extending up to 10–13 cm across treatments. Biomass also improved, with wet weights reaching 21–24 g from an initial 20 g. The treatment effectively reduced key physicochemical parameters: pH was stabilized from an initial alkaline value of 9.14 to near-neutral values (7.0–7.5), and total dissolved solids (TDSs) were reduced by approximately 50%. Heavy metal removal rates varied, with the highest efficiency of 79.2% for Silver (Ag) and the lowest (18.5%) for Mercury (Hg) This study demonstrates that E. crassipes actively participated in phytoremediation by absorbing and accumulating heavy metals and reducing salinity. The association with contaminant-tolerant microbes appeared to enhance the plant’s tolerance and overall treatment efficacy, indicating that plant–microbe interactions offer a sustainable strategy for the treatment of produced water.

Current research focuses more on redox of toxic Cr(VI), with less attention to Cr(III) changes in flooded soil. First, the structure of acid birnessite and cryptomelane was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and other test methods. This study investigated farmland soil in Yuxi, Yunnan Province, under flooding stress induced by the addition of two distinct concentrations of manganese oxides. Throughout the experiment, key physicochemical properties of the soil—including pH, redox potential (Eh), Cr(VI) concentration, and chromium speciation—were systematically measured and analyzed. Structural characterization demonstrated distinct morphological and surface area properties. Specifically, acid birnessite, with petal-like stacked spheres, has a specific surface area of 103.76 m²/g, while cryptomelane, strip-shaped, has an area of 95.92 m²/g. The submergence experiment yielded the following phenomena: (1) During the 60-day flooding experiment, soil amended with 0.5% or 1% acid birnessite or cryptomelane exhibited an increase in Eh compared to the control group. (2) At the end of the 60-day submergence period, the Cr(VI) concentration in the soil treated with 1% acid birnessite increased by 2.4 times compared to the control group. In addition, after 60 days, Cr(VI) concentrations in the soil exceeded 5 mg/L in soils with manganese oxide added to them. This study evaluates how manganese oxides oxidize Cr(III), aiding in assessing their environmental risks and long-term impacts on metal transformation. The findings help predict chromium behavior in farm soils and guide remediation strategies.