TASK 3: RAMAN A/L KARUPPIAH A144073

Based on Industrial talks on 11th October 2016, summarise an important

points using docx within five pages.

Phytoremediation is an emerging technology that uses various plants to degrade,

extract, contain, or immobilize contaminants from soil and water. This technology has
been receiving attention lately as an innovative, cost-effective alternative to the more
established treatment methods used at hazardous waste sites.
Introduction to phytoremediation was presented by Dr in. Arkadiusz Przybysz. He is
an Assistant Professor in Warsaw University of Life Sciences which is the largest
agricultural university in Poland. Phytoremediation is a bioremediation process that
uses various types of plants to remove, transfer, stabilize, or destroy contaminants in
the soil and groundwater. There are several types of phytoremediation introduced by
the speaker which are:
1.

Phytodegradation: use of plants to uptake, store and degrade contaminants

2.

within its tissue

Phytoextraction: use plants to absorb, translocate and store toxic

3.

contaminants from a soil matrix into their root and shoot tissue
Phytostabilisation: plant-mediated immobilisation or binding

of

contaminants into the soil matrix, thereby reducing their bioavailability

Restoration and management of environment is the main motive of phytoremediation.
This technology employs plants to remove pollutants from environment or reducing
their toxicity. Should we really care on the alarmingly increasing polluted sites from
various pollutants? According to statistics, in European Union (EU) about 3 600 000
sites are potentially polluted with trace elements or organic contaminants, 80 000 sites
was remediated, another 250 000 require immediate action. In all this sites
phytoremediation is a vital solution as the size of the sites are large to undergo
standard methods of soil removal which is more applicable in smaller areas.
Plants that are grown on the polluted site are either a good accumulator of pollutants
or normal plants with high biomass production. The advantage of picking normal

plants with high biomass production is that it is valuable after harvesting but little
pollutants are accumulated.

Figure 1: Different types of phytoremediation

Figure 1 shows the plant chosen for phytoremediation uptakes the pollutants through
its roots and in turn reduces its concentration on the soil.

Figure 2: Process flow diagram of phytoremediation

Figure 2 is the process flow diagram where the pollutants are accumulated in the
shoots and then harvested to be turned to biomass. This biomass can be used to
generate fuel.
Economic Considerations
Because phytoremediation is an emerging technology, standard cost information is not
readily available. David Glass (1998) and others have estimated that total system costs
for some phytoremediation applications will be 50 to 80% lower than alternatives.
Each application of plants will yield a separate performance evaluation including rate
and extent of clean-up and cost. Subsequently, the ability to develop cost comparisons
and to estimate project costs will need to be determined on a site specific basis. Two
considerations influence the economics of phytoremediation: the potential for
application, and the cost comparison to conventional treatments. Care must be taken
to compare whole system costs, which includes:
Design costs:
Site characterization
Work plan and report
Treatability and pilot testing
Installation costs:
Site preparation
Facilities removal
Debris removal
Utility line removal/relocation

Soil preparation
Physical modification: tilling
Chelating agents
pH control
Drainage
Infrastructure
Irrigation system
Fencing
Planting
Seeds, plants
Labor

Protection

Operating costs:
Maintenance
Irrigation water
Fertilizer
pH control
Site preparation Chelating agent
Facilities removal Drainage water
disposal
Debris removal Pesticides
Utility line removal/relocation
Fencing/pest
control
Soil preparation Replanting
Monitoring
Soil nutrients
Soil pH
Soil water
Plant nutrient status
Plant contaminant status
roots, shoots, stems, leaves
Tree sap flow monitoring
Air monitoring (leaves, branches,
whole
tree, area)
Weather monitoring

Future potential of phytoremediation

The new problem that needs handling by phytoremediation is the worsening air
pollution in countries like Beijing, London, Los Angeles, and Warszawa.

Figure 3: Sources that effect Air Quality Index(AQI)

This air pollution significantly decreases life expectancy. Norway by 4 months, in
European Union on average by 8.6 months, in Poland 10.7 months, Silesia even 3
years (EPA report particulate matter). In outdoor urban areas, use of green canyons
offers the possibility of lowering the level of particulate matter by up to 60%.
However, effectiveness of this depends on weather conditions. Accumulation of
particulate happens on foliage and surface of shoots. After falling down leaves are
suitable for disposal in incinerators or composting. Valuable species are those with
waxes and/or dense tomentose.
The future potential of phytoremediation is the combination of plants and microbes as
a team to clean up polluted sites more effectively and efficiently as shown in Figure 3:

Figure 4: Future potential of phytoremediation

Thus optimization of phytoremediation can be done by mixing two or more techniques
for the removal of pollutants. The phytoremediation system should be optimized prior
to the actual field application. There may be a need to modify the soil or water pH or
to add soil amendments such as chelating agents (to make metals more bioavailable),
nutrients (to increase rate of plant growth), and/or organic matter (to facilitate the
growth of the desired plant species or to improve soil microbial viability).
In conclusion, phytoremediation is a cost effective technique which can be used to
treat hazardous waste sites. More time is taken for phytoremediation compared to
available simple techniques but useful when applied in large areas. It also have great
potential for future application as plants and microbes can be put to working together
to achieve better results.