Improving Metal Hyperaccumulator Wild Plants to Develop Commercial Phytoextraction Systems: Approaches and Progress

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Abstract
The use of plants in environmental remediation has been called “green remediation,” “phytoremediation,” “botanical bioremediation,” “phytoextraction,” etc. This new technology is being developed for the cleanup of both soil metals and xenobiotics. Because metals cannot be biodegraded, remediation of soil metal risks has been a difficult and/or expensive goal (Chaney et al., 1995, 1997a). The general strategies for phytoremediation of soil metals is to either: (1) phytoextract the soil elements into the plant shoots for recycling or less expensive disposal; (2) phytovolatilize the soil trace elements (e.g., generation of Hg0 or dimethylselenide which enter the vapor phase); or (3) phy to stabilize soil metals into persistently nonbioavailable forms in the soil. The third method is usually called “in situ remediation” by which incorporation of soil amendments rich in Fe, phosphate, and limestone equivalent are used to transform soil Pb into forms with lower bioavailability and/or phytoavailability. Over time, soil Pb and some other elements become much less phytoavailable (or bioavailable) to organisms which consume soils; plants can contribute to this process by hastening the formation of pyromorphite, an insoluble and nonbioavailable Pb compound (e.g., Ma et al., 1993; Berti and Cunningham, 1997; Zhang et al., 1997; Brown et al., 1998).

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