Violina Angelova1* and Mariana Perifanova Nemska2
1Department of Chemistry, Agricultural University-Plovdiv, Bulgaria
2University of Food Technologies-Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
*Corresponding Author: Violina Angelova, Department of Chemistry, Agricultural University-Plovdiv, Bulgaria .
Received: July 29, 2020; Published: August 28, 2020
The goal of this research was to investigate the potential use of Ricinus communis L. (castor oil plant) for the remediation of metal-polluted sites. This field study was performed in industrially polluted soils that contain high concentrations of Zn, Pb and Cd situated at different distances (0.1, 2.0 and 15.0 km) from the source of pollution – KCM (Non-Ferrous Metal Works) near Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The amount of heavy metals in different part of castor oil plant (roots, stems, leaves, capsule, seeds) and oils was determined by ICP. The castor oil plant is tolerant to heavy metals. Bioaccumulation factor and translocation factor values were greater than one, which suggests that heavy metals accumulate efficiently in the shoots. The presence of low levels of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids as well as high levels of monounsaturated acids result in the production of a high quality biodiesel. The castor bean is a plant that can be used simultaneously for phytoextraction of heavy metals from soils and as biofuel. It can be grown on soils heavily contaminated with heavy metals, which are not suitable for the cultivation of food crops.
Keywords: Castor Oil Plant; Heavy Metals; Oil; Phytoremediation; Polluted Soils
Citation: Violina Angelova and Mariana Perifanova Nemska. “Phytoremediation Potential of Castor Bean (Ricinus Communis L.) ". Acta Scientific Agriculture 4.9 (2020): 63-72.
Copyright: © 2020 Violina Angelova and Mariana Perifanova Nemska. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.