Background: Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the most important environmental contaminants all over the world where wide studies have been conducted on their hazards on environment and living organisms, especially human. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the quantitative uptake of Phenanthrene ' s (as one of the most important PAHs in crude oil) by Salicorniaeuropea and also the effectiveness of crude oil content on normal condition of this plant especially at various concentrations. Materials and Methods: Salicornia plantlets were taken from Eshtehard plant bank which is located in Karaj, Alborz, Iran. They were transplanted and exposed to various t concentrations of crude oil (4.5-16-27.5-32-36.5 g/kg soil). Spectrophotometery and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy methods were used to determine and identify the phenanthrene uptake in roots and stalks, also the plants' appearance were checked out. Results: The highest uptake was at eight mg crude oil, per 1 g of soil and the least uptake was at 13.75 mg crude oil, per 1 g of soil. It seems that physical characteristics of crude oil are the main reasons of damages to plant tissue. Conclusions: Concerning the ability of Salicorniaeuropea to survive in the contaminated areas, it might be suitable that endemic types of this plant would be cultivated in contaminated coast lines.

Background: Crude oil contamination is one of the major concerns for the human health and environment. Objectives: The aim of this study was to find the optimal biological methods to remove crude oil contaminants, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), from the soil of the lands around the Tehran Refinery site. Materials and Methods: In this study, soil sampling was conducted from five points of the west side of the refinery area through a zigzag sampling method. The soil characteristics were identified in the soil laboratory where PAH contamination was also examined. Advantages and disadvantages of biological, physical, and thermochemical methods of soil treatment were retrieved from the literature. The biological methods were confirmed as the optimum treatment methods which had been more extensively evaluated according to the soil texture, remediated compounds, cost, and timing. Results: The soil was largely composed of silt and clay (silt:41-42%, clay: 40-43%, sand: 15-18%). The average moisture content of the saturated soil was 12.96%,; average electricity conductivity was 18.64 DSm-1 ; average pH of the paste was 8.36; and average percentage of organic carbon was 0.19%. Result of the laboratory analysis reported the average content of total nitrogen as 0.026%, phosphorus as 14.3 mg/kg-1 and potassium content as 3.4 mg/kg-1. Content of the crude oil derivatives was less than 0.5 %. Conclusions: An efficient method for treating the current low level soil contamination around the Tehran Refinery site is phytoremediation, a cost effective method that helps to create beautiful landscapes around the refinery site. Soil vapor extraction (SVE) should be used in large PAH levels (higher than the current rate). Soil washing is the most time-effective method, which is suitable for cases of emergency soil contamination with petroleum.