Application of herbaceous plant mixtures for remediation of TPH-contaminated soil

Soil pollution with petroleum products is an urgent public health and environmental problem. Therefore, innovative solutions for cleaning soils contaminated with petroleum products are needed. One such solution is rhizodegradation, which is recognized as a sustainable and effective method of <i>in situ</i> soil remediation. Much of the previous research was done with monocultures, therefore the effects of different combinations of plants on the removal of petroleum products remain ambiguous. These studies evaluated three different herbaceous plant mixtures for the removal of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) from contaminated soil. Promising results were obtained. Selected herbaceous plant species and their mixtures can be successfully grown in contaminated soil at a contamination level of 6,817 mg/kg TPH DW according to the selected cultivation strategy. After applying a complex of biotechnology and agronomic solutions, the morphological and morphometric indicators revealed the good adaptability and tolerance of the selected herbaceous plants to growing in contaminated soil. After two years of pot testing application of different mixtures of herbaceous plants, the TPH (C₆-C₄₀) removal potential reached 85-90%.