Phytoextraction Modeling of Heavy Metal (Lead) Contaminated Site Using Maize (Zea Mays)
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 13, Issue 4
Abstract
Phytoextraction is an ecofriendly technology through which plants are used for removing heavy metal contaminant from polluted sites. The effective implementation of this cost effective emerging technology requires a conceptual insight of soil and plant processes that control the uptake of targeted contaminant from the problematic area. Most of the current research deals with the plants grown in heavy metal contaminated soils and analyzed experimentally to determine their capacity to remove them from the soil. However, the prediction of the metal uptake by plants through mathematical modeling has received very little attention so far due to the complexity of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. In this study, a mathematical model is developed to investigate the removal of a heavy metal, lead (Pb), by maize at different growth stages of the plant. The model comprised of two parts: (1) moisture flow prediction and (2) contaminant uptake simulation. The first part predicts the actual water uptake by plant and computes the hydraulic regime of the soil profile for different moisture conditions. Through the second part of the model, the lead extraction kinetics is simulated using the water uptake data and plant root biomass accumulation. The model yields a set of partial differential equations which are solved numerically by the finite difference technique for varying boundary conditions. The moisture flow simulation is validated using the literature of field data for maize and the metal extraction simulation is performed based on this prediction for a characteristic example to remediate a lead contaminated site.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge the UNSPECIFIEDCommission of the European Union for extending the financial support to this research as part of the EU-Asia Link Project. We are also grateful to Maarten A. Siebel, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands, for his valuable contribution.
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Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 13 • Issue 4 • October 2009
Pages: 229 - 238
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 12, 2008
Accepted: Nov 10, 2008
Published online: Sep 15, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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