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Phytostabilization

Phytostabilization is a phytoremediation method that focuses on long-term stabilization and containment of pollutants in the soil by limiting their mobility and bioavailability. Plants immobilize pollutants by binding them to soil particles, making them less available for uptake. Stabilization reduces erosion, runoff, leaching, and the bioavailability of contaminants. An example is using vegetation to stabilize and contain mine tailings.

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52 views1 page

Phytostabilization

Phytostabilization is a phytoremediation method that focuses on long-term stabilization and containment of pollutants in the soil by limiting their mobility and bioavailability. Plants immobilize pollutants by binding them to soil particles, making them less available for uptake. Stabilization reduces erosion, runoff, leaching, and the bioavailability of contaminants. An example is using vegetation to stabilize and contain mine tailings.

Uploaded by

vijay kumar honnali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Phytostabilization[edit]

Phytostabilization reduces the mobility of substances in the environment, for example, by limiting
the leaching of substances from the soil.[8] It focuses on the long term stabilization and containment
of the pollutant. The plant immobilizes the pollutants by binding them to soil particles making them
less available for plant or human uptake.[citation needed] Unlike phytoextraction, phytostabilization focuses
mainly on sequestering pollutants in soil near the roots but not in plant tissues. Pollutants become
less bioavailable, resulting in reduced exposure. The plants can also excrete a substance that
produces a chemical reaction, converting the heavy metal pollutant into a less toxic form.
[9]
Stabilization results in reduced erosion, runoff, leaching, in addition to reducing the bioavailability
of the contaminant.[14] An example application of phytostabilization is using a vegetative cap to
stabilize and contain mine tailings.[26] Some soil amendments decrease radiosource mobility – while
at some concentrations the same amendments will increase mobility.[27][28] Vidal et al. 2000 find
the root mats of meadow grasses are effective at demobilising radiosource materials especially with
certain combinations of other agricultural practices.[27][28] Vidal also find that the particular grass mix
makes a significant difference.[27][28]

Phytodegradation[edit]

The roots secrete enzymes that degrade (breakdown) organic


pollutants in the soil.
Phytodegradation (also called phytotransformation) uses plants or microorganisms to degrade
organic pollutants in the soil or within the body of the plant. The organic compounds are broken
down by enzymes that the plant roots secrete and these molecules are then taken up by the plant
and released through transpiration.[29] This process works best with organic contaminants like
herbicides, trichloroethylene, and methyl tert-butyl ether.[14]

Phytotransformation results in the chemical modification of environmental substances as a direct


result of plant metabolism, often resulting in their inactivation, degradation (phytodegradation), or
immobilization (phytostabilization). In the case of organic pollutants, such
as pesticides, explosives, solvents, industrial chemicals, and other xenobiotic substances, certain
plants, such as Cannas, render these substances non-toxic by their metabolism.[30] In other
cases, microorganisms living in association with plant roots may metabolize these substances in soil
or water. These complex and recalcitrant compounds cannot be broken down to basic molecules
(water, carbon-dioxide, etc.) by plant molecules, and, hence, the
term phytotransformation represents a change in chemical structure without complete breakdown of
the compound. The term "Green Liver" is used to describe phytotransformation, [31] as plants behave
analogously to the human liver when dealing with these xenobiotic compounds (foreign
compound/pollutant).[32][33] After uptake of the xenobiotics, plant enzymes increase the polarity of the
xenobiotics by adding functional groups such as hydroxyl groups (-OH)

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