Phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated soils with alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

Abstract

Underground storage tanks uses for waste cars draining contain many hazardous materials including hydrocarbons. These compounds pose a significant threat to the environment and affect negatively the health of living. Phytoremediation is an environmental friendly method used during the last few decades to eliminating organics pollutants from soil, sediment and water. The remediation capability of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) to treat petroleum-contaminated soil from an old car scrap yard in Nybro, Sweden was further investigated using greenhouse pot-scale experiments. After five months, alfalfa survival capacity and dry biomass were significantly lower in contaminated soil (CS) in comparison to non-contaminated soil (NCS). Only 5% of plants survived in CS and petroleum hydrocarbon C10-C50 content in planted treatment were not statistically lower in comparison to the unplanted treatment. Further studies are in process to evaluate the possible degradation of hydrocarbons using organic amendment

Effects of Ginger on Growth Indices and Pb Bioaccumulation of Tomato Fruits Cultivated in Lead and Spent Engine Oil-Contaminated Soils

“…There is even likelihood of exponentially dreadful effects on the final consumers of such plants i.e. animals and ultimately humans, in a process called bio-magnification (NIEHS, 2021) as many people have come down with adverse biological effects due to toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity of these organic and inorganic contaminants (Marchand, 2017). This study thus set out to contribute to the body of information by evaluating Pb bioaccumulation and as a result estimating the harmful effects of soil induced contamination with lead (Pb) and spent engine oil (SEO) on tomato fruits growth statistics like fruit weight, circumference and length.…”

“…The presence of contaminants in soil has been indicated as a major setback to adequate tomato yield. Among those contaminants are Spent Engine Oil and Pb (Marchand, 2017;Ilahy et al, 2022).…”

“…Many polluted farms nowadays contain an inestimable array of organic and inorganic substances, including, but not limited to petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) including engine oil, diesel, kerosene, petrol, pesticides (Marchand, 2017), and heavy metals (HM) comprising lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), mercury (Hg), and cadmium (Cd).…”

Phytoremediation of Crude Petroleum Oil Pollution: A Review

“…Several biological, biochemical, and physical techniques, including insitu and ex-situ treatments, have been developed for the remediation of crude oil-contaminated ecosystems (Uzoije & Agunwamba, 2011). The limitations of these technologies include the cost, their application at high pollution levels and in mixed organic and inorganic pollutants, and the irreversible changes in physicochemical properties of ecosystems (Kumari et al, 2012;Marchand et al, 2014;Hoang et al, 2021). The current review focuses on the consequences of crude petroleum oil pollution on ecosystems and the remediation of contaminated ecosystems using bioremediation, particularly phytoremediation, as a cost-effective technique.…”

Eco-physiological response and genotoxicity induced by crude petroleum oil in the potential phytoremediator Vinca rosea L

“…Although there has been significant progress into research on petroleum hydrocarbon phytoremediation [16], the screening and characterization of crude oil phytoremediators are still ongoing and are considered a promising field of research. Using ornamental plants for phytoremediation has an advantage over using other reported types of plants because they can effectively reduce contamination and do not enter the food chain.…”