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Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation is a process that uses plants to remove, transfer, stabilize and destroy contaminants in soil ,water and sediment. Contaminants may be either organic or inorganic. It is also called vegetationenhanced bioremediation Phytoremediation consists in mitigating pollutant in contaminated soils , water ,or air, with plants able to contain degrade, or eliminate metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives crude oil and its derivatives and various other contaminants from the media that contain them.
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Phytoremediation Overview
History of Phytoremediation
Raskin coined the term in a 1991 proposal funded by U.S. EPA Superfund Program on metals accumulation Cunningham and Berti (1993) first used the term in the open literature Schnoor et al. (1995) first expanded the term in the open literature to include transformation of organics
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Phytohydraulics
Phytodegradation
The potential of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) to remove a phosphorus pesticide ethion were investigated. The disappearance rate constants of ethion . . . implied that plant uptake and phytodegradation contributed 69% and that of microbial degradation took up 12% to the removal of the applied ethion. The accumulated ethion in live water hyacinth plant decreased by 55-91% in shoots and 74-81% in roots after the plant growing 1 week in ethion free culture solutions, suggesting that plant uptake and phytodegradation might be the dominant process for ethion removal by the plant. This plant might be utilized as an efficient, economical and ecological alternative to accelerate the removal and degradation of8 agro-industrial wastewater polluted with ethion.
A MASS BALANCE FIELD TRIAL OF CARBON TETRACHLORIDE PHYTOREMEDIATION USING POPLAR: PHYTODEGRADATION IS THE LIKELY FATE Michael Dossett1, and Xiaoping Wang2, and Stuart E. Strand3
Rhizodegradation
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Phytoextraction
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The Chinese Ladder fern Pteris vittata, also known as the brake fern, is a highly efficient accumulator of arsenic. P. vittata grows rapidly and can absorb up to 2% of its weight in arsenic. . . When grown on soil with 100 ppm not only did it absorb more arsenic, but it grew 40% larger than normal. Lena Q. Ma, 2001
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Phytostabilization
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Rhizofiltration
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Phytovolatalization
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Role of genetics
Genes for phytoremediation may originate from a micro-organism or may be transferred from one plant to another variety better adapted to the environmental conditions at the cleanup site. Some natural, biodegradable compounds, such as exogenous polyamines, allow the plants to tolerate concentrations of pollutants 500 times higher than untreated plants, and to absorb more pollutants.
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Risk Assessment
The use of phytoremediation in the field is subject to many environmental concerns, especially in the light of the recent public hysteria about the release of GM crops into the environment. Even if non GM strains of plants are used there are still many concerns: It is unknown what ecological effects hyper accumulator plants may have if ingested by animals Fallout from senescing tissues in autumn may also re-enter the food chain Do volatilized contaminants remain at 'safe' levels in the atmosphere Exposure of the ecosystem to contaminants is prolonged as phytoremediation is a relatively slow process
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Anderson, ST Ashtabula, OH
Soil Groundwater
Upton, NY Milan, TN
Radionuclides
Soil Groundwater
Duckweed, parrotfeather
Amana, IA
Groundwater
Hybrid poplar
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The important phytoremediation technologies applied are rhizofiltration, phytostabilization, phytovolatilization, and phytoextraction. The term phytoremediation ("phyto" meaning plant, and the Latin suffix "remedium" meaning to clean or restore) actually refers to a diverse collection of plant-based technologies that use either naturally occurring or genetically engineered plants for cleaning contaminated environments.
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Salicornia (pickleweed) accumulates salt in vacuole. A form of table salt can then be extracted from plant.
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Conclusion
Although much remains to be studied, phytoremediation will clearly play some role in the stabilization and remediation of many contaminated sites. The main factor driving the implementation of phytoremediation projects are low costs with significant improvements in site aesthetics and the potential for ecosystem restoration.
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