For years, researchers thought plants couldn’t take up almak[strong]persistent kalıcı[/strong]organic [strong]pollutant kirletici madde[/strong], or POPs, since the pollutants aren’t water soluble çözünür. But, from her greenhouse in Kingston, Ontario, Barb Zeeb, a professor in the department of chemistry and chemical engineering, has succeeded başarmak in removing ortadan kaldırmak these industrial chemicals and pesticides from soil toprak by using a variety çeşit of plants, including pumpkins.
Dr. Zeeb, who is the head of Canada Research Chair in Biotechnologies and the Environment, says that after the POPs are take up almak, the plants are composted gübrelemek. Called “phytoextraction,” this process preserves korumak and ultimately en sonunda improves duzelmek the natural quality of the soil.
“Traditionally geleneksel olarak, we dig up deşmek the contamination and take it to a hazardous tehlikeli waste atık dumpsite or incineration yakma facility tesisat., but then the soil is lost,” she says. “But, in using phytoextraction ... after we pull all the contaminants out, you’ve still got this natural resource kaynak of the soil itself.”
The composted material may still need to be disposed of imha etmek as hazardous waste, but the volume hacim of contaminated matter madde has been greatly reduced, says Dr. Zeeb.
“Just about every city in southern Ontario has brown-field sites, meaning they’ve been contaminated with industrial chemicals kimyasal or pesticides böcek zehiri over the years,” she says. “Many of them are in the hearts of their cities and they’re being hindered engel olmak from development because of the legacy miras of contamination bulaştırma.”
A number of birkaç firms have already shown interest in this “green technology,” which Dr. Zeeb and her students are trying to optimize iyileştirmek with different, bigger plants. “It’s a long-term project,” she says.