A New Technique For Removing DDT From The Environment
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Awards Grant to Edenspace for Research on Plant Remediation of Persistent Organic Pollutants
Atlanta, GA — At the International Phytotechnologies Conference sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Edenspace Systems Corporation announced today that the EPA has awarded the company a six-month Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grant to explore a new method for remediating persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in soil and excavated sediments. In cooperation with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), Edenspace will test recently-identified plant species for their ability to remove residual components of DDT from weathered soil.
The chemical stability and slow natural attenuation of DDT, PCBs and other POPs makes remediation of these compounds a particularly difficult environmental challenge. They persist for long periods of time in the environment and can accumulate and pass from one species to the next through the food chain. POP-contaminated materials must be stored, transported, tracked, and then sent to landfills. Recent research by Edenspace's research partner for the project, Dr. Jason White at CAES, indicates that POPs can be removed from soil by plants exuding high concentrations of low molecular weight organic acids from their roots.
In this project, Edenspace will use these select plants with low molecular weight organic acids in contaminated soils and measure the plant uptake of a DDT breakdown product, DDE. In future research, it will target other POPs, such as PCBs and dioxin, and seek to improve performance with additional plants and cultivation techniques.
Persistent organic pollutants are toxic chemicals that adversely affect human health and the environment around the world. Because they can be transported by wind and water, POPs generated in one country can affect people and wildlife far from where they are used or released. To address this global concern, in May 2001 the United States joined forces with 90 other countries and the European Community to sign a United Nations treaty in Stockholm, Sweden. Under the treaty, known as the Stockholm Convention, countries agree to reduce or eliminate the production, use, and/or release of twelve key POPs.
Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Edenspace Systems Corporation is a commercial leader in the use of live plants to improve human health, protect property values and clean the environment. Its techniques employ plants to detect, concentrate and remove lead, arsenic, radionuclides, chlorides (salts), hydrocarbons, and other minerals in water and soil. With expertise in plant science, soil science, genetics and agronomy, Edenspace is developing new markets for the restoration and enrichment of our surroundings.
Source: Edenspace Systems Corporation