PHYTOREMEDIATION OF LEAD USING A BIODEGRADABLE CHELATE: WITH KENTUCKY BLUEGRASS

Phytoremediation has become a popular method of decreasing the concentration of unwanted metals in soil and water. Metals, especially lead contaminants can pose major environmental and health problems. Lead does not degrade and cleanup, therefore, requires its immobilization, toxicity reduction, or removal. Chelate assisted phytoextraction was presented as a possible tool to remove contaminants from the soil. Phytoextraction involves the uptake of contaminants by grass roots and translocation of the contaminants to the shoots of the grass. A chelate-enhanced phytoextraction technique was investigated as an extraction method of lead from soil by grass. The use of Kentucky bluegrass as a phytoremediator of lead contaminants with the assistance of a chelate ethylendiaminedissuccinate (EDDS) was examined in this book. Pilot studies should help to conduct a large scale of phytoremediation and should be useful to fight against lead contaminants in soil.