Phytoremediation: a novel approach to an old problem

There is a great need for cost effective technology to remediate soils and bodies of water contaminated with heavy metals and radionuclides. Phytoremediation, an emerging technology of using plants for the removal of pollutants could provide an affordable way to restore the economic value of contaminated land. Two main subsets of phytoremediation have been developed: phytoextration, which is based on using high biomass crop plants in combination with a system of soil amendments to extract heavy metals from soil, and rhizofiltration, a technology which employs plants to remove contaminants from aqueous streams.