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Review | Tropical Environment, Biology, and Technology | Volume 2 - Issue 2 - 2024 | 106‒123 | https://doi.org/10.53623/tebt.v2i2.532
© 2024 by the author(s), and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License

Phytoremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons: An Update of Its Recent Progress

Author(s): Kuok Ho Daniel Tang
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Department of Environmental Science, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA

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Tropical Environment, Biology, and Technology

Volume 2 - Issue 2 - 2024

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Phytoremediation continues to play an important role in the remediation of soils contaminated with hydrocarbons, as demonstrated by the ongoing influx of research articles in this field. A review of the recent literature reveals that studies on phytoremediation continue to assess the effectiveness of both existing and new plant species, particularly in treating contaminated soils. Fertilization and soil amendments are commonly incorporated into these studies. There is significant interest in microbial-assisted phytoremediation and the optimization of phytoremediation with surfactants and root exudates. Phytoremediation using plants alone often encounters limited efficiency (<65% petroleum hydrocarbon removal). However, fertilization, soil amendments, and additives like root exudates can boost efficiency to slightly above 80%, particularly with compost. Microbial-assisted phytoremediation could further increase efficiency to more than 90%, depending on the microorganisms used. Endomycorrhizal fungi and Acinetobacter sp. Tust-DM21 appear to have pronounced enhancing effects on petroleum hydrocarbon removal. Combining and optimizing good agricultural practices, fertilization, soil amendments, additives, and microbial-assisted phytoremediation could enhance overall efficiency while improving plant growth, even in saline or highly contaminated soils. Research on phytoremediation of water contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons is significantly less prevalent. This review contributes to the identification of effective phytoremediation strategies and suggests that future research could focus on further exploring plant-microbe interactions to improve petroleum hydrocarbon removal. Artificial intelligence could also be incorporated to optimize factors that positively influence phytoremediation.

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SUBMITTED: 01 November 2024
ACCEPTED: 05 December 2024
PUBLISHED: 9 December 2024
SUBMITTED to ACCEPTED: 34 days
DOI: https://doi.org/10.53623/tebt.v2i2.532

Cite this article
Tang, K. H. D. (2024). Phytoremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons: An Update of Its Recent Progress. Tropical Environment, Biology, and Technology, 2(2), 106‒123. https://doi.org/10.53623/tebt.v2i2.532
Keywords
bioaugmentation fertilizer microorganisms phytoremediation optimization soil amendment
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