A review on the phytoremediation of petroleum hydrocarbon

Oil spillage as a result of petroleum industry activities and pipe-line vandalization by saboteurs is a frequent occurrence in oil-producing regions of the world. Conventional oil spill clean-up techniques involve physical and chemical processes that do more damage to the aquatic ecosystem than the oil spill itself. Consequently, the need arises to evolve or develop a more environment-friendly technique that will not only clean-up the environment but also restore the aquatic ecosystem to its status before the oil spill. Phytoremediation, which involves the use of plant to detoxify polluted site, appears to be promising in this regard. It is environment-friendly as well as cost-effective but may take more time than the conventional methods because it is a natural process.