Phytoremediation: A Way Forward Towards Heavy Metal Management

Abstract

From year to year, the amount of heavy metals in the environment rises. Decontamination of heavy metal-contaminated soils is crucial for ecological restoration and environmental health maintenance. Using natural processes, phytoremediation helps to remove pollutants from the environment. There are many ways that plants help to remove pollutants from the environment, including uptake and concentration, transformation of pollutants, stability, and rhizosphere degradation, which involves encouraging the development of bacteria to break down contaminants in the root zone. Although the use of phytoremediation is growing, the ecological properties of the plants utilised have received very little study. This study looked into whether native plants may be used to clean up the soil while simultaneously offering benefits above ground, such habitat for wildlife. The relatively new technology of phytoremediation has definite advantages over conventional site cleanup techniques. Some of its uses have only been evaluated in a lab setting or greenhouse, whilst others have undergone sufficient field testing to permit full-scale operation. Scientists and engineers have recently created the eco-friendly and cost-effective phytoremediation method, which uses living plants or biomass/microorganisms to clean up polluted areas. Applications that it can be used for include phytofiltration, phytostabilization, phytoextraction, and phytodegradation.