Abstract
Water shortage is an upcoming crisis that most countries will face accordingly. One of the suitable solutions for water management is the treatment and reusing of wastewater. The current proposal is concerning by finding out a potent plant powder that able to remediate heavy metals and represent an antimicrobial effect, successfully. Clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M.Perry) fruits, leaves and fruits of Schinus molle L. powders were tested for their ability to remediate the heavy metals Co2+, Zn2+, Ni2+, and Pb2+ ions. Simultaneously, they were investigated for their antimicrobial activity against Vibrio cholerae ATCC700, Candida albicans ATCC700, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027, Escherichia coli NCTC10418, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC13883, Bacillus cereus ATCC6633 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538. The ion chromatography results showed that clove fruits powder can effectively remove Co2+, Zn2+, and Ni2+ ions with removal percentages 39.8%, 37%, and 26.19%, respectively. Whenever, shinus leaves powder showed a 90% percentage of Pb2+ ions removal as the highest detected percent compared with shinus fruits powder that was the lowest one. Clove fruits powder was also investigated as the potent antimicrobial agent against all tested microbes compared with shinus leaves and shinus fruits that completely failed to stop the microbial growth of all tested pathogenic microbes. The alginate-immobilized beads of shinus leaves powder showed the highest percentage of removal as 96.67% for shinus leaves against Pb2+ ions; while, the free powder of clove fruits was still the best compared with the immobilized one. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis was investigated to screen the active components of the three powders. Scanning electron microscopy was used to configure the shape of the powders before and after immobilization. In vivo testing of the selected plant powders for bioremediation of heavy metals and decontamination of microbes in real wastewater samples indicating that clove fruits powder is highly active as an antimicrobial agent; while, shinus leaves' powder is more active regarding heavy metals bioremediation.