Phytoremediation to Remove ethylbenzene from Contaminated Media

Ethyl benzene is an environmental pollutant that is produced from various sources and can pollute water, soil, and air. There are several ways to clean this pollutant from the environment. Phytoremediation is a suitable method for removing environmental pollutants due to its environmentally friendly nature and cost-effectiveness. The present study is a review of previous studies on the phytoremediation of ethylbenzene in literature from Medline, Web of Science, ProQuest, Scopus, and PubMed databases.

In the initial search, a total of 45 articles were found in the period 2009 to 2022, and in the first screening stage, the title and abstract of the articles were reviewed simultaneously, leaving 26 articles at the end of this stage. The full text of 8 articles was reviewed and 3 of them remained. Finally, out of 45 articles, 29 articles remained. After removing the duplicates, 12 related articles were registered. Our criteria for selecting articles was the use of a live plant to purify ethylbenzene from the environment by various phytoremediation methods.

Studies showed that plants can remove ethyl benzene from various environments of water, air, and soil. Removal of airborne ethylbenzene through plant leaves is one of the most important phytoremediation applications of ethylbenzene. In phytoremediation, the effect of microorganisms on plants should not be ignored. They can increase phytoremediation efficiency; however, the use of some species may be ineffective or even hurt phytoremediation. In addition to bacteria, the effect of some fungi has also been observed in the absorption of ethylbenzene from the microcrystalline zone, which increases the plant's ability to absorb. Phytoremediation can be a good option to remove ethylbenzene pollution from the environment, especially the gaseous form of this pollutant in closed environments. Microorganisms can be used to help increase the efficiency of this method.