Heavy metal pollution is a global problem. Due to their properties, heavy metals are a very specific class of impurities. As a result of human activity and the development of industry, the concentration of metals in soils increases drastically, and even their one-time deposition means that they can remain in the aquatic or soil ecosystem for many years, changing only the forms in which they occur. The use of plants in remediation processes gives promising possibilities of removing metals from soils. Phytoremediation involves various reclamation techniques, leads to soil removal (phytoextraction) or immobilization (phytostabilization), where created soil conditions and plant cover reduce heavy metal mobility. Phytoextraction uses the unusual ability of plants hyper accumulators for accumulating metals in aboveground shoots, which can be removed at a later stage of the process. This technique has its limitations as well as its advantages, but is generally considered to be environmentally friendly, economical, hardly interfering with ecosystems, and socially acceptable. Soil conditions and concentration of pollutants must be within the tolerance of the plant, which is a certain limitation in the use of the method. This technique is widely seen as an alternative to ecosystem interfering physical methods. The use of genetic engineering methods and the search for species with appropriate characteristics opens new ones possibilities for phytoremediation.

BAPR Project Partners:

Linnaeus University, Sweden (Project Leader)

NSR AB, Sweden

Gdansk University of Technology, Poland

Klaipeda University, Lithuania

Gdańsk Municipality Rendering Plant, Poland

Lithuanian Research Center for Agriculture and Forestry, Lithuania

Water, Waste Management and District Heating Company in Hassleholm, Sweden

Project Co-financed by Interreg South Baltic Programme 2014 - 2020

Project no.: STHB.02.02.00-SE-0155/18

Total project budget: EUR 1 357 300

ERDF amount requested: EUR 1 091 705

Research in the Baltic Smart Asset Management project is carried out as part of an international project co-financed by the program of the Minister of Science and Higher Education pn. "PMW" in 2021-2023; contract No. 5232/SBP 2014-2020/2022/2