The Potential of Chrysanthemum and Pelargonium for Phytoextraction of Lead - Contaminated Soils

Phytoremediation is a set of technologies that uses plants to clean up contaminated soils and groundwater. Phytoremediation is environmentally friendly, successful and cost-effective compared to other in situ methods such as the electrokinetic method. In this work, two local plant species, Chrysanthemum and Pelargonium, were examined for their ability to uptake lead from lead contaminated soils (1000 ppm). Additionally, two types of soils were used for the phytoremediation study. The first soil was a silty clay soil, and the second was a carefully designed mixture of commercially available peat moss (33%), peyrlaite (16%), sand (16%), clay (17%) and organic “manure” fertilizer (18%). Commercially available pots as well as especially designed and manufactured pots were used for the phytoremediation experiments. Chrysanthemum showed greater potential for lead accumulation than Pelargonium. Chrysanthemum reduced lead from about1000 ppm to about 276 ppm in the soil in five months only. Most of the lead was found in the roots of the plant (73%), while 11%, 9% and 7% was found in the stems, leaves and flowers, respectively. Pelargonium, however, was not as effective as Chrysanthemum. Pelargonium reduced lead concentrations from about 1400 ppm to about 900 ppm.