Phytoremediation of Metals by Aquatic Macrophytes

Abstract

Phytoremediation is a plant-based and cost-effective technology that could be the possible potential method for providing an alternative to current treatment technologies for wastewater and contaminated ecosystems. It also enjoys popularity with the general public as a green technology. Aquatic macrophytes showed great potential in the field of phytoremediation. They are important tools for heavy metal removal since it basically involves the extraction and translocation of contaminants to aerial parts or inactivation of these toxic metals in a system. In order to exploit its full potential, a comprehensive understanding is needed as to how metal uptake, transport, and trafficking across plant membranes and distribution, tolerance, sensitivity, etc., take place under different environments. Aquatic plants in freshwater, marine and estuarine systems act as receptacle for several metals and have tremendous scope for application in remediation of heavy metals in the environment. Uptake and removal of contaminant varies for each category of aquatic macrophyte, viz. free-floating, submerged and emergent. The mechanisms of metal uptake, role of phytoremediators in metal pollution abatement and progress made in the practical application of phytoremediation of metals by aquatic macrophytes are reviewed in this paper. The paper discusses the phytoremediation potential of most promising aquatic macrophytes for different metals, their practical applications for environmental clean-up and method for safe disposal of phytoextracted biomass.