14. Recent Advances in Phytoremediation Technology

The rapid increase in the environmental contaminants due to various anthropogenic activities has become a serious issue worldwide. New and efficient measures are explored to remove or contain the threat from the increasing levels of environmental pollution. Plant-based soil and water remediation (phytoremediation) is one such method which can prove to be a sustainable and promising treatment to remediate environmental problems. Phytoremediation exploits the abilities of green plants to uptake, stabilize, or metabolize the pollutants. Moreover, it is a cost-effective and environmentally safe approach as compared to conventional methods to solve the problems of soil and water pollution. Phytoremediation technique has been successfully applied to treat various contaminated sites and pollutants such as heavy metals, dyes, fly ash, hydrocarbons etc. and furthermore, research is underway for exploring new ways to improve the phytoremediation process.