Page 32 - Plant-Based Remediation Processes

Chapter 2
Protocols for Applying Phytotechnologies
in Metal-Contaminated Soils

Meri Barbafieri, Jan Japenga, Paul Romkens, Gianniantonio Petruzzelli,
and Francesca Pedron

2.1 Introduction

Phytoremediation is becoming well-known word in both scientific literature and
more popular publications. The word itself is derived from the Greek word phytos
(plant) and the Latin word remedium (roughly translated as restoration of balance/
equilibrium). This makes phytoremediation a very broadly applied expression: in
fact, it can be defined as any use of plants to restore the quality of soil, biota, water,
and air (McCutcheon and Schnoor 2003; McCutcheon and Jørgensen 2008).
Phytoremediation is considered the only solution which approaches the problem
from an eco-sustainable point of view: environmentally friendly and relatively
cheap. The United Nations Environment Program (2003) promotes its application
as sustainable technology to remediate environmental pollution. Moreover, the
European Union regulators proposed within the Directive 2008/1/EC a guideline
to select the most suitable technique according to criteria such as environmental
friendliness, preexisting scientific knowledge, or required time. Such guidelines
leave stakeholders to choose the best remediation technology for their site, consid-
ering the economic, environmental, and social variables (Conesa et al. 2012). In this
chapter the use of the phenomenon phytoremediation is narrowed down to heavy
metals as pollutants and soils as the environmental compartment, focusing on
phytoextraction (Raskin 1995; Blaylock et al. 1997) and phytostabilization (Berti
and Cunningham 2000; Bolan et al. 2011). Phytoextraction aims to remove the
heavy metal using specific plants, often in combination with specific soil additives,

M. Barbafieri (*) • G. Petruzzelli • F. Pedron
Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Section of Pisa, National Research Council, Via Moruzzi,
1, 56125 Pisa, Italy
e-mail: meri.barbafieri@ise.cnr.it
J. Japenga • P. Romkens
Alterra-Wageningen UR, Soil Science Centre, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen,
The Netherlands

D.K. Gupta (ed.), Plant-Based Remediation Processes, Soil Biology 35, 19
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35564-6_2, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013