Phytoremediation of metal-contaminated sites

Abstract

Contamination of metals in the soil and water has become a serious issue for the human health and environment safety. Toxic metals are released into the environment from anthropogenic and developmental activities, viz., mining, industrial manufacturing, vehicular exhaust, and domestic and agricultural uses of chemicals. Metals like lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and arsenic are very toxic in nature for living being and can cause teratogenic, mutagenic, and endocrine disruptors and neurological disorders in human beings. Untreated or partially treated industrial effluent containing high concentration of metals contaminates water bodies or sometimes soil through unregulated discharge. Metals due to recalcitrant in nature get accumulated in living organisms and biomagnify in the organisms at top trophic level. Traditional wastewater treatment processes are not so efficient to remove metal from contaminated water; therefore, to remove metals from contaminated water it needs some advance and viable methods. Using efficient plants and microbes to remove or reduce contamination and detoxifying metals from contaminated sites is called phytoremediation. Various plants have been identified as efficient metal accumulator and are used to remove metals from contaminated water either individually or in combination. Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly and economic technique as it is solar driven and requires energy for operation. Developing more viable techniques to remove metals from contaminated sites employing efficient plants would be helpful in conserving water and soil quality and minimizing the negative effects of human health. Further, advancement in understanding the mechanisms of bioabsorption, bioconversion, and tolerance in plants helps us to select and apply the best combination of plants for removing metals from contaminated sites more efficiently.