Phytoremediation prospects for soils contaminated with heavy metals

Phytoremediation is an effective technique of using plants to restore contaminated soils. The aim of this work is to review promising hyperaccumulators with regard to phytoremediation. Different types of plants, genetic and cellular engineering and other techniques that contribute to soil purification from heavy metals are used for phytoremediation. The paper presents an overview of hyperaccumulators that are able to accumulate various contaminants in the tissues of aboveground organs. The literature search was carried out in such databases as eLIBRARY and CyberLeninka. Plants for phytoremediation should meet a large set of specific criteria. However, no plant can satisfy all of them. Therefore, choosing the most effective plant is a difficult task. The paper analyzes plants used for phytoremediation on the territory of the Russian Federation. The list of studies included in the review demonstrates the peculiarities of certain heavy metal accumulation by different plants. At the same time, the majority of plants used for phytoremediant (about 75 %) accumulate nickel. Only a small number of plants are able to accumulate other heavy metals, such as copper, zinc, cadmium, and lead. Some publications presented in the review indicate that for effective phytoremediation, it is also necessary to pay attention to the soil composition and other external factors. This remark is really crucial. Currently, phytoremediation is an understudied unpredictable technique for cleaning up contaminated soils. It has not received widespread use yet, but it is promising.