Abstract
Phytoremediation, a new plant-based technology for the removal of toxic contaminants from soil and water, is a potentially attractive approach. Though a number of plants have been identified as hyperaccumulators for the phytoextraction of a variety of metals and some has been used in field applications, no study on recovery and recycle of heavy metals from contaminated soil has been investigated. Recently, Athyrium yokoscense has been discovered as an efficacious heavy metallic hyperaccumulating fern plant. In this work, the purification of contaminated soil with heavy metals using A. yokoscense and the development of system for recovering valuable metals by steam explosion and Wayman's extraction were investigated. After the harvest of A. yokoscense adsorbed heavy metals from contaminated soil, it was treated by steam explosion and separated into extractive components, i.e. holocellulose, water-soluble material, Klason lignin, and methanol-soluble lignin, using Wayman's extraction method. The distribution of metals in the components was clarified using ICP emission spectrometry.
