Phytoremediation

Phytoremediation is a process that uses plants to remove, transfer, stabilize, and destroy
contaminants in soil and sediment. Contaminants may be either organic or inorganic.
It is also called Vegetation-enhanced bioremediation.
Phytoremediation consists in mitigating pollutant concentrations 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.

Applicability:

Phytoremediation may be applicable for the remediation of metals, pesticides, solvents,

explosives, crude oil, PAHs, and landfill leachates.
Some plant species have the ability to store metals in their roots. They can be
transplanted to sites to filter metals from wastewater. As the roots become saturated with
metal contaminants, they can be harvested.

Hyper-accumulator plants may be able to remove and store significant amount of metallic
contaminants.

Currently, trees are under investigation to determine their ability to remove organic
contaminants from ground water, translocate and transpiration, and possibly metabolize
them either to CO2 or plant tissue.

1
Techniques:

Phytoremediation is more than just planting and letting the foliage grow; the site must be
engineered to prevent erosion and flooding and maximize pollutant uptake. There are 3
main planting techniques for phytoremediation.

1. Growing plants on the land, like crops. This technique is most useful when the
contaminant is within the plant root zone, typically 3 - 6 feet or the tree root zone,
typically 10-15 feet .
2. Growing plants in water (aquaculture). Water from deeper aquifers can be
pumped out of the ground and circulated through a "reactor" of plants and then
used in an application where it is returned to the earth (e.g. irrigation).

3. Growing trees on the land and constructing wells through which tree roots can
grow. This method can remediate deeper aquifers in-situ. The wells provide an
artery for tree roots to grow toward the water and form a root system in the
capillary fringe.

Illustration of remediation of deeper wells in-situ.

2
Limitations:

Limitations to phytoremediation in soil include:

• Phytoremediation -- work at sites that are well suited for plant growth. means that
the concentration of pollutants cannot be toxic to the plants

• The depth of the treatment zone is determined by plants used in phytoremediation.

In most cases, it is limited to shallow soils.
• High concentrations of hazardous materials can be toxic to plants.
• It involves the same mass transfer limitations as other biotreatments.
• It may be seasonal, depending on location.
• It can transfer contamination across media, e.g., from soil to air.
• It is not effective for strongly sorbed (e.g., PCBs) and weakly sorbed
contaminants.
• The toxicity and bioavailability of biodegradation products is not always known.
• Products may be mobilized into ground water or bioaccumulated in animals.
• It is still in the demonstration stage.
• It is unfamiliar to regulators.
http://www.frtr.gov/matrix2/section4/4-3.html

Determining which plant to use:

The majority of current research in the phytoremediation field revolves around

determining which plant works most efficiently in a given application. Not all plant
species will metabolize, volatize, and / or accumulate pollutants in the same manner. The
goal is to ascertain which plants are most effective at remediating a given pollutant.

Plant species are selected for phytoremediation based on their potential to

evapotranspirate groundwater, the degradative enzymes they produce, their growth rates
and yield, the depth of their root zone, and their ability to bioaccumulate contaminants

Research has yielded some general guidelines for groundwater phytoremediation plants.
The plant must grow quickly and consume large quantities of water in a short time. A
good plant would also be able to remediate more than one pollutant because pollution
rarely occurs as a single compound. Poplars and cottonwoods are being studied
extensively because they can used as much as 30 and 350 gallons of water per day, and
they can remediate a wide variety of organic compounds, including LNAPL's.

Phytoremediation has been shown to work on metals and moderately hydrophobic

compounds such as BTEX compounds, chlorinated solvents, ammunition wastes, and
nitrogen compounds.

3
 Table 1 shows a partial listing of plants and which pollutants they are capable of
remediating.

Partial listing of plants and chemicals they can remediate.

Plant Chemicals
Arabidopsis Mercury
Bladder campion Zinc, Copper
Brassica family (Indian Mustard Selenium, Sulfur, Lead, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Zinc,
& Broccoli) Copper, Cesium, Strontium
Buxaceae (boxwood) Nickel
Compositae family Cesium, Strontium
Euphorbiaceae Nickel
Tomato plant Lead, Zinc, Copper
Pesticides, Atrazine, Trichloroethylene (TCE), Carbon
Trees in the Populusgenus
tetrachloride, Nitrogen compounds, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene
(Poplar, Cottonwood)
(TNT), hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5 triazine (RDX)
Pennycress Zinc, Cadmium
Sunflower Cesium, Strontium, Uranium
genus Lemna(Duckweed) Explosives wastes
Parrot feather Explosives wastes

Pros and Cons of Phytoremediation

Advantages

1. Solar energy is used to drive the cleansing activity.

2. Disposal sites are not needed
3. t avoids excavation and transport of polluted media thus reducing the risk of
spreading the contamination.
4. It has the potential to treat sites polluted with more than one type of pollutant
5. After plants are introduced, wildlife is able to flourish at the once
uninhabitable site.
6. Phytoremediation takes no maintenance once instituted.
7. Since phytoremediation uses plants, it is aesthetically pleasing.
8. Works with metals and slightly hydrophobic compounds, including many
organics.
9. Can stimulate bioremediation in the soil closely associated with the plant root.
Plants can stimulate microorganisms through the release of nutrients and the
transport of oxygen to their roots.
10. Phytoremediation is less expensive than the old "pump and treat" method for
the treatment of contaminated water.
11. Phytoremediation is also much less expensive than digging out the
contaminated site.

4
 12. Up to 95% of TCE present in water could be removed by simply planting trees
and letting them grow.
13. Having ground cover on property reduces exposure risk to the community (i.e.
lead).
14. Planting vegetation on a site also reduces erosion by wind and water
15. Can leave usable topsoil intact

Disadvantages:
1. Phytoremediation is limited to sites with lower contaminant
concentrations.
2. Phytoremediation is slower than conventional methods
3. Phytoremediation is restricted to sites with contamination as deep as the
roots of the plants being used.
4. The food chain could be adversely affected by the degradation of
chemicals.
5. Contaminants may be collected in woody tissues used as fuel.The air
could be contaminated by the burning of leaves or limbs of plants
containing dangerous chemicals.
6. Success is dependant on the tolerance of the plant to the pollutant
7. Can take many growing seasons to clean up a site.
8. Plants have short roots. They can clean up soil or groundwater near the
surface in-situ, typically 3 - 6 feet (Ecological Engineering, 1997), but
cannot remediate deep aquifers without further design work.
9. Trees have longer roots and can clean up slightly deeper contamination
than plants, typically 10-15 feet (T. Crossman, personal communication,
November 18, 1997), but cannot remediate deep aquifers without further
design work (see Figure 2).
10. Trees roots grow in the capillary fringe, but do not extend deep in to the
aquifer. This makes remediating DNAPL's in situ with plants and trees not
recommended.
11. Plants that absorb toxic materials may contaminant the food chain.
12. Volatization of compounds can transform a groundwater pollution
problem to an air pollution problem.
13. Returning the water to the earth after aquaculture must be permitted.
14. Less efficient for hydrophobic contaminants, which bind tightly to soil.
The low cost of phytoremediation (up to 1000 times cheaper than excavation and
reburial) is the main advantage of phytoremediation, however many of the pro's and cons
of phytoremediation applications depend greatly on the location of the polluted site, the
contaminants in question, and the application of phytoremediation.

5
 http://www.cem.msu.edu/~cem181fp/phytoremed/CEM%20181/Advantages%20and
%20Disadvantages.htm
http://arabidopsis.info/students/dom/mainpage.html
How Does Phytoremediation Work?

Plant roots take contaminants from the ground into the "body" of the plant. The plant
root zone is referred to as the rhizosphere, this is where the action occurs. This soil
supports large populations of diverse microorganisms. This is due to chemicals
exuded by plant roots which provide carbon and energy for microbial growth. This
combination of plants and microorganisms appears to increase the biodegradation of
compounds.
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/chem-eng/Biotech-Environ/MISC/phytorem.html

Methods of Phytoremediation
Phytoremediation of metal contaminated
sites
Phytoextraction (Phytoaccumulation)

Phytoextraction is the name given to the process where plant roots uptake metal
contaminants from the soil and translocate them to their above soil tissues. As different
plant have different abilities to uptake and withstand high levels of pollutants many
different plants may be used. This is of particular importance on sites that have been
polluted with more than one type of metal contaminant. Hyperaccumulator plant species
(species which absorb higher amounts of pollutants than most other species) are used on
may sites due to their tolerance of relatively extreme levels of pollution.
Once the plants have grown and absorbed the metal pollutants they are harvested and
disposed of safely. This process is repeated several times to reduce contamination to
acceptable levels. In some cases it is possible to recycle the metals through a process
known as phytomining, though this is usually reserved for use with precious metals.
Metal compounds that have been successfully phytoextracted include zinc, copper, and
nickel, but there is promising research being completed on lead and chromium absorbing
plants.

6
 Rhizofiltration

Rhizofiltration is similar in concept to Phytoextraction but is concerned with the

remediation of contaminated groundwater rather than the remediation of polluted soils.
The contaminants are either adsorbed onto the root surface or are absorbed by the plant
roots. Plants used for rhizoliltration are not planted directly in situ but are acclimated to
the pollutant first. Plants are hydroponically grown in clean water rather than soil, until a
large root system has developed. Once a large root system is in place the water supply is
substituted for a polluted water supply to acclimatise the plant. Afer the plants become
acclimatised they are planted in the polluted area where the roots uptake the polluted
water and the contaminants along with it. As the roots become saturated they are
harvested and disposed of safely. Repeated treatments of the site can reduce pollution to
suitable levels as was exemplified in Chernobyl where sunflowers were grown in
radioactively contaminated pools.

Phytostabilisation

Phytostabilisation is the use of certain plants to immobilise soil and water contaminants.
Contaminant are absorbed and accumulated by roots, adsorbed onto the roots, or
precipitated in the rhizosphere. This reduces or even prevents the mobility of the
contaminants preventing migration into the groundwater or air, and also reduces
the bioavailibility of the contaminant thus preventing spread through the food chain. This
technique can alos be used to re-establish a plant community on sites that have been
denuded due to the high levels of metal contamination. Once a community of tolerant
species has been established the potential for wind erosion (and thus spread of the
pollutant) is reduced and leaching of the soil contaminants is also reduced.

7
 Phytoremediation of organic polluted
sites
Phytoremediation of organics

Phytoremediation of organic pollutants takes advantage of the fact that living plants carry
out a plethora of chemical reactions energized by sunlight, which metabolize or
mineralize organic molecules. Targets of this technology are PCBs (polychlorinated
biphenyls), TCEs (trichloroethylenes), PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), pesticide
residues, various explosives and other toxic organic pollutants deposited in soils and
waters around us by industry. Plants and associated microorganisms can degrade these
pollutants, or at least limit their spread in the environment. Various enzymes that are
capable of metabolizing pollutants were identified in plants. In general, our
understanding of the mechanisms of degradation of organic pollutants by plants lags
behind our knowledge of bacteria-assisted bioremediation. It is also difficult to assess the
contribution of rhizospheric microorganisms (bacteria and fungi associated with plant
roots) to the overall success of plant-assisted phytoremediation of organics. Nevertheless,
the initial progress in utilizing plants for the cleanup and containment of organic
pollutants warrants serious evaluation of this area of research.

Phytodegradation (Phytotransformation)

Phytodegradation is the degradation or breakdown of organic contaminants by internal

and external metabolic processes driven by the plant. Ex planta metabolic processes
hydrolyse organic compounds into smaller units that can be absorbed by the plant. Some
contaminants can be absorbed by the plant and are then broken down by plant enzymes.
These smaller pollutant molecules may then be used as metabolites by the plant as it
grows, thus becoming incorporated into the plant tissues. Plant enzymes have been
identified that breakdown ammunition wastes, chlorinated solvents such as TCE
(Trichloroethane), and others which degrade organic herbicides.

8
 Rhizodegradation

Rhizodegradation (also called enhanced rhizosphere biodegradation, phytostimulation,

and plant assisted bioremediation) is the breakdown of organic contaminants in the soil
by soil dwelling microbes which is enhanced by the rhizosphere's presence. Certain soil
dwelling microbes digest organic pollutants such as fuels and solvents, producing
harmless products through a process known as Bioremediation. Plant root exudates such
as sugars, alcohols, and organic acids act as carbohydrate sources for the soil micro flora
and enhance microbial growth and activity. Some of these compound may also act as
chemo tactic signals for certain microbes. The plant roots also loosen the soil and
transport water to the rhizosphere thus additionally enhancing microbial activity.

Phytovolatilization

Phytovolatilization is the process where plants uptake contaminaints which are water
soluble and release them into the atmosphere as they transpire the water. The contaminant
may become modified along the way, as the water travels along the plant's vascular
system from the roots to the leaves, whereby the contaminants evaporate or volatilize into
the air surrounding the plant. There are varying degrees of success with plants as
phytovolatilizers with one study showing poplar trees to volatilize up to 90% of the TCE
they absorb.

Hydraulic control of Pollutants

Hydraulic control is the term given to the use of plants to control the migration
of subsurface water through the rapid upltake of large volumes of water by the
plants. The plants are effectively acting as natural hydraulic pumps which when
a dense root network has been established near the water table can transpire up
to 300 gallons of water per day. This fact has been utilised to decrease the
migration of contaminants from surface water into the groundwater (below the
water table) and drinking water supplies. There are two such uses for plants:

Riparian corridors

Riparian corridors and buffer strips are the applications of many aspects of
phytoremediation along the banks of a river or the edges of groundwater
plumes. Pytodegradation, phytovolatilization, and rhizodegradation are used to
control the spread of contaminants and to remediate polluted sites. Riparian
strips refer to these uses along the banks of rivers and streams, whereas buffer
strips are the use of such applications along the perimeter of landfills.

Vegetative cover

9
Vegetative cover is the name given to the use of plants as a cover or cap
growing over landfill sites. The standard caps for such sites are usually plastic
or clay. Plants used in this manner are not only more aesthically pleasing they
may also help to control erosion, leaching of contaminants, and may also help
to degrade the underlying landfill.

Conclusions

Crops are among our most inexpensive products. It costs only several hundred dollars to
grow a hectare of soybeans or corn which can yield over 20 tons of dry biomass.
Growing plants is also several hundred times cheaper than growing an equivalent weight
of bacterial biomass. The main reason is that unlike bacteria, plants do not require sterile
conditions or organic nutrients and are easier to propagate and harvest. However, until
recently, bacteria attracted much more interest in remediation of water and soil than
plants. Research results show significant potential to use plants for remediation of metal
and organic pollutants and to develop molecular approaches which further improve this
process.

10