| Abstract Detail
Heavy Metals and Phytoremediation Ebbs, Stephen [1], Bushey, Joseph [2], Dzombak, David [3], Piccinin, Robert [4], Baker, Alan [4]. Phytoremediation of cyanide compounds in soil-water systems. Cyanide is a ubiquitous compound in industry that invariably appears in waste streams from gold mining, chemical synthesis, electroplating, metal and aluminum works, and the former manufactured gas (MGP) industry. Not surprisingly, cyanide has been in the top 10% of contaminants on the CERCLA Priority List of Hazardous Substances since 1995. Cyanide in the environment represents a risk to human and ecosystem health. We report here our progress in the development of strategies for the phytoremediation of cyanide compounds in soil and water systems. Greenhouse experiments using stable isotope labeled (15N) free cyanide (as KCN) and ferrocyanide have been conducted to examine the transport and biological fate of these compounds in willow, two species of Eucalypts, and several grass species. The results to date suggest that these species are capable of transporting both chemical forms of cyanide. Both chemical species are also apparently metabolized by plants, although the dissociation of the ferrocyanide complex appeared to be a rate limiting step for the metabolism of this compound. Thus far, neither cyanide accumulation in aboveground tissues nor cyanide volatilization have been observed, suggesting that cyanide phytoremediation would not pose an ecological risk. The results from these physiological studies have been combined with those from studies of the geochemical studies of cyanide in soil-water systems to develop an integrated computer model which quantifies partitioning of free cyanide and ferrocyanide in a soil-water-plant system. This robust model has been extended to a constructed wetland scenario to evaluate the engineering feasibility of cyanide phytoremediation.
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1 - Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Department of Plant Biology, 420 Life Science II, 1125 Lincoln Drive, Carbondale, IL, 62901-6509, USA
2 - Syracuse University, Department of Environmental Engineering
3 - Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
4 - University of Melbourne, School of Botany
Keywords:
Phytoremediation
cyanide
metal cyanides
stable isotope.
Presentation Type: Plant Biology Abstract
Session: P
Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton
Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007
Time: 8:00 AM
Number: P05002
Abstract ID:143 |
