Flowers Of Petroleum Contaminated Soil Phytoremediation Research

Although petroleum is one of the dominant energy sources to maintain the economic and social development of a country, during the exploration, translation and processing, petroleum has caused a huge area of contamination and relevant adverse effects, and many countries and regions face serious problems of soil contamination and ecological risk by petroleum hydrocarbons. Petroleum hydrocarbons are a mixture of chemical substances caused during human activities by using petroleum products in industrial and agricultural production, some of which are composed of two or more than two benzene rings. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) are one of the most common groups of persistent organic contaminants in the environment and are known to be toxic to many living organisms. With the development of petroleum industry, more and more petroleum oil came into the soil environment, caused seriously pollution. The major contamination happened in the 20cm surface layer, strong adhension and lower emulsification, effected the soil permeability. The presence of petroleum hydrocarbons in soils is not only an adverse factor for human health, but also a negative impetus for plant growth and development. With the expanding of the soil contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons, how to remedy, treat and control this contamination economically and efficiently is becoming a technical problem in the environmental protection.At present, the common remediation methods for disposing contaminated soils include mainly physical remediation, chemical remediation and bioremediation. However, traditional physical and chemical remediation methods are costly and prone to a second contamination. A novel potential remediation treatment for these contaminated sites is phytoremediation, which is a cost-effective technique defined as the use of "special" plants and their roots associated bacteria to remove, transform, or assimilate toxic chemicals located in soils, sediments, ground water, surface water, and even the atmosphere. At the same time, phytoremediation is a low input approach depending on natural attenuation by biodegradation and physiochemical mechanisms that decrease the contaminant concentration where sowing plants may be the only intervention. Some researches also showed that some native plants can effectively degrade organic pollutants including petroleum hydrocarbons, when associated with the role of living microorganisms in bioremediation. Relatively speaking, research on phytoremediation of petroleum contaminated soil is scarce. In particular, there is no document on ornamental plants that have been applied to phytoremediation of petroleum contaminated soils, which can remedy contaminated environment and beautify it at the same time. Ornamental plants are an important type of higher plants apart from those in the food chain, and are quite crucial if they can be applied to phytoremedying contaminated soils. Thus, using ornamentals for remediation of contaminated environment has a significant and realistic purpose which can definitely open up a new way to phytoremediation. On the basis of identifying remediation plants from ornamentals, the remediation capability of Mirabilis Jalapa L., Pharbitis nil (Linn.) Choisy and Impatiens balsamina. to treat petroleum contaminated soil from the Shengli Oil Field in Dongying City, Shandong Province, China was further investigated using a field plot experiment carried out in a greenhouse. The results showed that after 127d, phytoremediation using the special species is an effective treatment option to reduce petroleum hydrocarbon levels in contaminated soils.