Investigating phytoremediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals by microorganisms

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the phytoremediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals by microorganisms.

This study was conducted with a review-descriptive method on the studies conducted on herbal treatment.

The results of this study showed that many techniques have been developed to clean soils contaminated with heavy metals. Among these techniques, plant extraction (plant treatment) has been presented as an effective and cheap cleaning method, in which the absorption and collection of pollutants in plant tissues is considered. In this method, by harvesting plants from the soil, the pollutants are removed from the soil. In agricultural lands contaminated with heavy metals, the selection of metal-tolerant crops to remove pollutants from the soil can be a new strategy for land management. A number of cadmium accumulating species that have been reported based on the results of hydroponic and pot tests are species with high biomass, including corn, sunflower and Indian mustard for refining areas contaminated with heavy metals.

Various physical, chemical and biological methods have been suggested for the treatment of areas contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants, which are mostly costly and uneconomical.