Phytoremediation of Arsenic - Contaminated in the Environment

Abstract

Arsenic contamination in soil and water are the concerning problem to human health worldwide. Removal of arsenic for reducing their hazardous to human and ecosystem have to urgently done. Phytoremediation is an effective method to remove contaminated arsenic in the environment even though arsenic is not essential element for plant growth. Several aquatic plants including emerged plants, floating plants and submerged plants have been reported to accumulate arsenic in their biomass. For arsenic contaminated soil, there are several terrestrial plants used to remove arsenic, including ornamental plant, fern, weed and grass. Phytoextraction and phytostabilization are the important mechanisms for remediating arsenic in soil. However, the limited biomass of plant grown in arsenic contaminated soil and this decrease phytoremediation capacity. The addition of several amendments, such as composting and phosphate have been reported to improve plant capacity to extract arsenic. The management of plant biomass after phytoremediation have to consider carefully for preventing re-contamination. The more details are described in this article.