ISHS Acta Horticulturae 457: Symposium on Plant Biotechnology as a tool for the Exploitation of Mountain Lands
PHYTOREMEDIATION: GREEN AND CLEAN |
| Authors: | I. Raskin, D. Salt, U. Krämer, R. Schulman |
| Abstract:
Soils and waters contaminated with toxic metals pose a major environmental and human health problem which is still in need of an effective and affordable technological solution. The partial success of microbial bioremediation has been limited to the degradation of some organic contaminants and has been ineffective at addressing the challenge of toxic metal contamination, particularly in soils. Current methodologies for remediating toxic metal polluted soils rely mainly on excavation and burial at a hazardous waste site at an average cost of $1,000,000/acre. In our laboratory at Rutgers University we helped to develop a cost-effective “green” technology based on the use of specially selected metal-accumulating plants to remove toxic metals, including radionuclides, from soils and water. We termed this technology phytoremediation. Phytoremediation takes advantage of the fact that a living plant can be compared to a solar driven pump, which can extract and concentrate particular elements from the environment. We have exploited this property to develop a method for enhancing the ability of specially selected and/or engineered plants to remove toxic metals from soil and water and to concentrate these metals in harvestable parts. To make phytoremediation possible, we have assembled a diverse group of scientists composed of plant biochemists, molecular biologists, soil chemists, agronomists, and environmental engineers. We have also formed close collaborations with other faculty members at Rutgers and scientists at other universities in the U.S. and abroad. The basic idea that plants can be used for environmental remediation is certainly very old and cannot be traced to any particular source. However, a series of fascinating scientific discoveries combined with interdisciplinary research approaches allowed the development of this idea into a promising environmental technology. Laboratory and greenhouse work on phytoremediation started in 1991, as a result of funding received from the U.S. EPA and the State of New Jersey. Specifically, two subsets of phytoremediation are approaching commercialization.
The metals targeted for phytoremediation include lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic and various radionuclides. The market is estimated to be billions of dollars, with government and private responsible parties being major clients. The harvested plant tissue, rich in accumulated contaminant, can be processed by drying, ashing or composting. The volume of toxic waste produced as a result is generally a fraction of that of many current, more invasive remediation technologies and the associated costs are much less. Some metals can be reclaimed from the ash, further reducing hazardous waste and generating recycling revenues. | |
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