Trees clean up pollutants

Researchers at North Carolina State University are working to demonstrate that trees can be used to degrade or capture fuels that leak into soil and ground water.

Through a process called phytoremediation, plants and trees remove pollutants from the environment or render them harmless.

Through a partnership with state and federal government agencies, the military and industry, Dr Elizabeth Nichols, environmental technology professor in NC State’s Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, and her team are using phytoremediation to clean up a contaminated site in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

Phytoremediation uses plants to absorb heavy metals from the soil into their roots. The process is said to be an attractive alternative to the standard clean-up methods currently used, which are very expensive and energy intensive. At appropriate sites, phytoremediation can be a cost-effective and sustainable technology, according to Nichols.

The site was planted with a mixture of fast-growing trees such as hybrid poplars and willows to prevent residual fuel waste from entering the Pasquotank River by ground water discharge.