Enhanced Bioavailable Contaminant Stripping: a Case Study of Hg Contaminated Soil

Abstract

Despite the numerous articles appearing in scientific journals, very few field applications of phytoextraction have been successfully realized. To overcome the imbalance between the technology’s potential and its drawbacks, there is growing interest in the use of plants to reduce only the fraction that is the most hazardous to the environment and human health, that is to target the bioavailable fractions of metals in soil. Enhanced Bioavailable Contaminant Stripping (EBCS) is a new remediation approach aimed to remove all the bioavailable metal fractions, also considering the soil ability to replenish the bioavailable pool in the long term. EBCS have been used in a mercury contaminated soil.