Phytoremediation is a great alternative to traditional methods of removing contaminants from soil. Traditional ways include either digging up the contaminated soil and hauling it away to a waste site or applying chemicals to the soil. Phytoremediation uses plants that are harvested for their ability to extract contaminants, specifically metals, from the soil and store them in their leaves and shoots. A different species of plant can be used to clean up oil spills and polluted groundwater by microbes in the root system breaking down petroleum compounds as well as PHA's into nontoxic substance that makes the soil usable once again. Other applications for these plants would be as indicators for contaminants in the soil as they change appearance in the presence of contaminants.
"Cleaning Up Contaminants With Plants" by Jennifer Cutraro from Purdue University
No comments:
Post a Comment