Strategies and prospects in the recovery of contaminated soils by phytoremediation: an updated overview
Jhonatan da Silva1, Gabriel Bachega Rosa2, William Gustavo Sganzerla3, Jocleita Peruzzo Ferrareze2, Flávio José Simioni1 and Mari Lucia Campos1
1University of the State of Santa Catarina – Center of Agroveterinary Sciences (UDESC-CAV), Lages, SC, Brazil.
2Federal Institute of Education Science and Technology (IFSC), Lages, SC, Brazil.
3University of Campinas (UNICAMP), School of Food Engineering (FEA), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Abstract
The contamination of soils and groundwater has attracted worldwide attention, since many contaminants are poorly biodegradable and can accumulate in living organisms, causing implications for plants, animals, and human health. The high cost of conventional remediation processes stimulates research for the development of innovative and more sustainable techniques. Likewise, phytoremediation is a cheap technology that uses plants to absorb, transform, and detoxify contaminants through in situ (phytoextraction, phytotransformation, and phytovolatilization) and ex situ mechanisms (phytostabilization and phytostimulation). Recently, phytoremediation has been adopted as a more profitable technique than physicochemical processes. Otherwise, the existence of variables, such as interactions between climate, soil, and plants, requires analysis methods for its implementation, which ensure the reduction of time and cost and improve its efficiency. Research on the application of different phytoremediation techniques is still in progress, and therefore, this study evaluated the main advantages of phytoremediation through a literature overview, comparing the most adequate remediation models in terms of economic, social, and environmental aspects.
Highlighted Conclusions
1. Phytoremediation consists of the use of plants and their associated microbes for environmental cleanup and recovery of contaminate soil.
2. Phytoremediation promotes social-economics benefits comparing to the conventional techniques, and ensures sustainability in environmental rehabilitation.