Phytoremediation

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Phytoremediation technologies use living plants to clean up soil, air and water contaminated with hazardous contaminants.^[1] It is defined as "the use of green plants and the associated microorganisms, along with proper soil amendments and agronomic techniques to either contain, remove or render toxic environmental contaminants harmless".^[2] The term is an amalgam of the Greek phyto (plant) and Latin remedium (restoring balance). Although attractive for its cost, phytoremediation has not been demonstrated to redress any significant environmental challenge to the extent that contaminated space has been reclaimed.

Phytoremediation is proposed as a cost-effective plant-based approach of environmental remediation that takes advantage of the ability of plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment and to detoxify various compounds without causing additional pollution.^[3] The concentrating effect results from the ability of certain plants called hyperaccumulators to bioaccumulate chemicals. The remediation effect is quite different. Toxic heavy metals cannot be degraded, but organic pollutants can be, and are generally the major targets for phytoremediation. Several field trials confirmed the feasibility of using plants for environmental cleanup.^[4]