#mscbotany #plantphysiology #plants #phytoremediation #pollutionsolution #pollutionfreeenvironment
Phytoremediation implies using plant species to extract and eradicate elemental contaminants or reduce their biological availability in soil and water bodies and, hence, improve degraded environments.
It is an approach to lower the amount of contamination in polluted sites to environmentally tolerable levels by using green plants.
Phytoremediation consists of two systems:
the root system hosting the microbial population and
the plant itself, which transforms the toxic compounds to further non-toxic substances.
Plant species, such as Populus and Salix, are easy to regenerate with extensive roots and have high evapo-transpiration rates; hence, they can flourish on soils with contaminated conditions.
On the basis of the type of contaminant, the media in which the treatment take place and the scope of application, the phyto-technique can be categorized into specific mechanisms:
Phytoaccumulation/phytoextraction,
Rhizodegradation,
Phytostabilization,
Rhizofiltration,
Phytoevaporation/phytovolatilization,
Phytodesalination,
Phytodegradation/phytotransformation and
Phytohydraulics