Abstract:
The content of cadmium, lead, chromium, copper and zinc in algal samples from
five locations along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia beach was determined by
Inductive Couple Plasma Mass Spectrophotometer. Algal samples of Padina sp were
collected in the rocky beach area along Terengganu coastline. The content of total
cadmium, lead, chromium, copper and zinc in seawater from the collection sites were
also determined. In this study, the possibility of using Padina sp as a bio absorbent for
the removal of heavy metals was examined. Total concentrations (µg metal/g dry weight
seaweed) of metals in Padina sp ranged from 15.439 (µgig) to 53.441 (µgig) for zinc,
0.627 (µgig) to 1.291 (µgig) for cadmium, 3.472 (µgig) to 4.334 (µgig) for copper, 4.993
(µgig) to 11.837 (µgig) for lead and 6.012 (µgig) to 8.886 (µgig) for chromium. The
highest heavy metals content in seaweed can be found from Station Pantai Bukit Keluang
which showed the high content of zinc, chromium and copper with 53.441 (µgig), 8.886
(µgig) and 4.092 (µgig) respectively.
