β-Cyclodextrin enhanced bioavailability of petroleum hydrocarbons in industrially contaminated soil: A phytoremediation field study

Low remediation efficiency due to low bioavailability is a primary restrictive factor for phytoremediation applications. Specifically, this investigation examines whether Suaeda heteroptera Kitagawa (S. heteroptera) can be used in combination with beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) to remediate contaminated site. The study was conducted on the growth response of S. heteroptera, bioavailability and dissipation of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) in soil under the influence of beta-CD Our preliminary studies confirmed that beta-CD is effective in increasing the biomass and height of plants. The presence of beta-CD could dramatically elevate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes in S. heteroptera. Moreover, a remarkable positive correlation between PHs levels in roots with the dosage of beta-CD and a negative correlation between the PHs levels in roots with KOW of PHs have been observed. The dissipation of n-alkanes was estimated to be 38.73-62.27%, and the dissipation of PAHs was 36.59-60.10%. In addition, the dissipation behavior of n-alkanes and PAHs was well agreement with the first-order kinetic model. These results display that applying beta-CD accelerated the desorption process of PHs from soil and promoted the absorption process of PHs onto the root epidermis. The enhancement of phytoremediation was achieved by increasing the bioavailability of PHs. There has been an increasing concern regarding soil contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs) released by industrial activities. The study attempted to investigate how beta-CD affects the phytoremediation of PHs-contaminated sites. The findings of this study offer an environmentally friendly and cost-effective method of phytoremediating industrially contaminated sites using beta-CD enhanced-phytoremediation.