Environmental phytoremediation and analytical technologies for heavy metal removal and assessment

Biotic or abiotic environmental systems do not function well under chemical stresses. The realization that heavy metal stressors are a major threat to the environment and its ecosystems and the organisms that depend on them, have created an urgent need for novel ways to take effectively, efficiently, economically, and eco-friendly sustainable bioremediation interventions to decontaminate and protect the environment from heavy metal stressors. One very promising green technology intervention is phytoremediation. Phytoremediation technologies presented in this chapter include phytoaccumulation (phytoextraction), phytodegradation (phytotransformation), phytostabilization, phytovolatilization, phytofiltration. Because the effectiveness of these technologies is evaluated by assessing accumulated, degraded, immobilized, volatilized, precipitated, removed, extracted, adsorbed, desorbed, or leached heavy metals, this chapter also covers atomic spectroscopic techniques, the commonly used analytical techniques for the assessment of heavy metals in the environment. The analytical techniques presented in the chapter include atomic absorption spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, inorganic mass spectrometry, atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence. Results from analytical techniques are critical to chemical hazard identification, exposure assessment, dose-response assessment, and nature and the magnitude of risk to biotic and abiotic environmental constituents. The goal is to protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of the environment to meet the needs of present and future generations.