Suitability of different salt marsh plants for petroleum hydrocarbons remediation

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2011

Authors

Nazare N P F S Couto (Author) Other; Clara C P Basto (Author) FCUP; Teresa T S D Vasconcelos (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Chemosphere

Vol. 84

Pages: 1052-1057

ISSN: 0045-6535

Publisher: Elsevier

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 9 Citations

Scopus - 11 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Natural sciences > Earth and related Environmental sciences

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-NZ2

DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.04.069

Abstract (EN): The suitability of the salt-marsh species Halimione portulacoides, Scirpus maritimus, Juncus maritimus and an association of the last two for remediation of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) in soil was investigated. An outdoor laboratory experiment (microcosm-scale) was carried out using contaminated soil collected in a refinery, as a complement of another study carried out in the refinery environment (mesocosm-scale). Soil samples with old contamination (mainly crude oil) and with a mixture of the old and recent (turbine oil) contamination were tested. Studies in both micro- and mesocosm-scale provided results coherent in substance. The presence of S. maritimus caused removal of old contamination which was refractory to natural attenuation (after 7 months of exposure, efficiency was 13% when only old contamination was present and 40% when the soil also contained recent contamination). H. portulacoides (only included in the microcosm-scale study) revealed also potentiality for PHC remediation, although with less efficiency than S. maritimus. Degradation of recent contamination was also faster in the presence of plants (after 7 months: 100% in the presence of S. maritimus vs. 63% in its absence). As these species are common in salt marsh areas in Atlantic coast of Europe, it is probable they will be also useful for recovering coast sediments. In contrast, J. maritimus and association did not reveal capability to remove PHC from soil, the presence of J. maritimus inhibiting the capability of S. maritimus.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6