What is Phytoremediation? Discuss its applications.

Phytoremediation is the use of green plants for in situ risk reduction and removed of contaminants from contaminated soil, water, sediments and air. 

Phytore-mediation is used for the remediation of metals, radionuclides, pesticides, explosives, fuels, volatile organic compounds.

The principal application of phytore-mediation is for lightly contaminated soils, sludge's, and waters where the material to be treated is at a shallow or medium depth and the area to be treated is large, so that organic techniques are economical and applicable for both planting and harvesting.

Phytoremediation may be applied wherever the soil or static water environment has become polluted or is suffering ongoing chronic pollution. Examples-where phytoremediation has been used successfully include the restoration of abandoned metal-mine working, reducing the impact of sites where polychlorinated biphenyl have been dumped during manufacture and mitigation of on-going coal mine discharges.

Phytoremediation refers to the natural ability of certain plants called hyperaccumulators to bioaccumulate, degrade, or render harmless contaminants in soils, water of air. Contaminants such as metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, and crude oil and its derivatives, have been mitigated phytoremediation projects worldwide.

Phytoremediation is considered a clean, cost-effective and non-environ-mentally disruptive technology, as opposed to mechanical cleanup methods such as soil excavation or pumping polluted ground-water. Over the past 20 years, this technology has become increasingly popular and has applied at sites with soils contaminated with lead, uranium, and arsenic.