Phytoextraction and phytostabilisation approaches of heavy metal remediation in acid mine drainage with case studies: A review

Abstract

This review discusses phytoextraction and phytostabilisation of acid mine drainage (AMD) alongside with their benefits and limitations with case studies. Furthermore, plants associated with these two approaches of phytoremediation and impact of AMD on aquatic macrophytes used for phytoremediation were also reviewed. Both phytoextraction and phytostabilisation approaches are promising technologies in remediating AMD. However, their limitation of low metal removal and the lack of knowledge of minimum amendments required for their effective remediation call for the proposal, herein made, to combine aquatic macrophytes, as well as include plants from a wide range of families capable of phytoextraction and phytostabilisation in the remediation of AMD.