Phytoremediation of Persistent Organic Contaminants in the Environment

Abstract

Phytoremediation is a technology that uses various plants to extract, contain, immobilize or degrade contaminants from soil and water for the purpose of the remediation of these contaminants from the environment. The remediation processes include all plant-influenced biological, chemical, and physical processes that aid in the accumulation, sequestration, degradation, and metabolism of contaminants, either by the plants or by the free-living organisms that constitute a plant’s rhi-zosphere (Cunningham et al. 1995, 1996; Macek et al. 2000). Phytoremediation can be used for in situ treatment of water, sediments, soils and air. Regarding the removal of toxic organic compounds, it would be ideal to mineralize them through a combination of plant and bacterial processes. Phytoremediation is a long-term process that generally requires several years in order to either remove the pollutant completely, or alter it so that it is no longer harmful to the environment (Cunningham and Ow 1996). Along with an investment of time, there is also a significant cost factor involved. Hence, the desire to develop more cost effective and environmentally friendly remediation strategies becomes apparent. In the past 10 years or so, green, plant-based processes have received more attention due to their potential for cleaning up both organic and inorganic contaminants in soils (Cunningham and Ow 1996; Alkorta and Garbisu 2001).