As there is a global water crisis facing the whole world, it is important to find alternative solutions to treat wastewater for reuse. Hence, plants have an effective role in removing pollutants from wastewater, which has been emphasized in this review article. Biological treatment of wastewater can be considered an eco-friendly and cost-effective process that depends on in the future. Living organisms, including plants, can remediate pollutants in wastewater, especially in agricultural fields, such as dyes, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides. This review discusses the different activities of plants in pollutant elimination from wastewater and sheds light on the utilization of plants in this scope. This review focuses on the remediation of the most common contaminants present in wastewater, which are difficult to the removal with microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and algae. Moreover, it covers the major role of plants in wastewater treatment and the potential of phytoremediation as a possible solution for the global water crisis.
Keywords: phytoremediation; plants; pollutant removal; wastewater treatment.
© 2022 Atta Ullah Khan et al., published by De Gruyter.