Abstract
Plant toxicity and chemical removal tests were conducted to investigate the remediation ability of grasses with respect to volatile organic contaminants (VOCs) in contaminated soil and air. Eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides) and annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) were exposed to artificially contaminated soil or air containing a mixture of 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA), trichloroethylene (TCE), and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) under controlled laboratory conditions. The results showed that the grasses are more severely affected in hydroponics than potted soil contaminated with a mixture of these contaminants. It was observed from the results that more contaminants were detected in the shoot and root of plants grown in a closed system with contaminated air than in an open system with contaminated soil. It is suggested from the results that grasses can be used for purification of VOCs from contaminated air especially in a closed system, but the purification effects are likely to be low. The results also suggested that the concentration level of VOCs in shoot, root, and soil could be used as contamination indicator at contaminated sites.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from Texas Advanced Research Program 000512-0293 and by the Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and Korea Industrial Technology Foundation (KOTEF). The authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewers, whose comments strengthened this manuscript.
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Cho, C., Corapcioglu, M.Y., Park, S. et al. Effects of Grasses on the Fate of VOCs in Contaminated Soil and Air. Water Air Soil Pollut 187, 243–250 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9512-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9512-z