ABSTRACT

Enhances Phytoremediation .................................................................... 413 14.8 Phytoremediation-Assisted Bioaugmentation ....................................... 414 14.9 Conclusions and Future Perspectives ..................................................... 415 References ............................................................................................................. 416

Contrary to the existing conventional remediation technologies, phytoremediation (exploiting inherent physiological mechanisms of plants to remove pollutants or render them nontoxic) is a cost-effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to decontaminate the metal-polluted soils. Plant-based remediation can be in the form of phytostabilisation, phytoextraction, phytovolatilisation and rhizodegradation, depending upon the physical or chemical properties of contaminants present in soils (Figure 14.1). In phytoextraction, plants are used to concentrate metals from the soil into the roots and shoots of the plant; rhizodegradation is the use of plants to uptake, store and degrade contaminants within its tissue; phytostabilisation is the use of plants to reduce the mobility of heavy metals through absorption and precipitation by plants, thus reducing their bioavailability; phytovolatilisation is the uptake and release into the atmosphere of volatile materials, such as mercury or arsenic-containing compounds (Jing et al. 2007).