METHOD OF USING PELARGONIUM SP. AS HYPERACCUMULATORS FOR REMEDIATING CONTAMINATED SOIL

摘要

A process for effectively remediating soils contaminated with individual ormixture of metal ions is described. The process involves utilizing plants ofthe genus Pelargonium, particularly Pelargonium sp., to hyperaccumulate metalions in their roots and shoots. These plants when grown on soils, whichcontain one or more of the metal ions, individually or in a complex mixture,will uptake the metal ions through their roots ans translocate them to theshoots. This process thereby removes the metal ions from the soil. Theharvested shoot and root biomass can be used for extraction of essentialaromatic oils, and the residual oil-extracted biomass will be available forextraction and recycling of the metals. The process also describes the use ofthe above said plant(s) for remediating land-farming sites of petroleumindustries, which are generally contamined with a mixture of metal ions andorganic contaminants. The plant surpasses all the requirements of an idealhyperaccumulator such as, robust growth habit, large shoot biomass (primarilyleaves), effective root system, ability to survive and uptake of a wide arrayof metal ions, ability to retain senescing plant parts, in addition topotential economic returns in the form of essential aromatic oils fromharvestable biomass.