Research activity on phytoremediation
A cooperation with the Dept. of Environmental Sciences - Section of Biotechnologies and Genetics
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Phytoremediation is a collective term to number the techniques used to clean up soil and water of organic and inorganic pollutants by means of green plants.
Heavy metals constitute a broad category of worldwide spread pollutants to which phytoremediation can be applied and the efforts to understand their bioavailability and roots uptake, may produce reliable results. |
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Synchrotron Radiation Induced X-ray micro-fluorescence (µ-SRXF ) constitute an approach to elements quantification and mapping suitable for application to samples from living organisms . This technique is based on the stimulated emission of X-rays by elements present in a target sample, X-rays are then collected by a specific type of detector (usually a Si(Li) X-ray detector), and processed by dedicated softwares. |
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Since these plants should contain in their tissues sensible amounts of metals, the possibility that they could release metals once again in the environment must be concerned. In order to envisage a safe disposal procedure, is important to determine whether metals are stored within the plant compartments with some forms of stable and strong chemical binding. |
A suitable technique to investigate metals embedded in plant matrix is the Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy
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| Where the experiments are performed:
EXAFS experiments at the GILDA beamline at ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility), Grenoble, France.
(µ-SRXF ) experiments on BAM beamline at BESSY (Berliner elektronenspeicherring-Gesellschaft für Synchrotronstrahlung ). Formerly on D15 beamline at the L.U.R.E. (Laboratoires pur l'Utilisation du
Raionment Electromagnetique), Orsay, France |
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Aerial view of the Science and Technology Park Berlin-Adlershof (WISTA), in the middle: BESSY
(Photograph: Luftbild u. Pressefoto, R. Grahn)
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Publications
- N. MARMIROLI, E. MAESTRI, G. ANTONIOLI, C. CONTE, M. MARMIROLI, C. MUCCHINO, I. MUTTI, Application of micro-SRXF and SEM/EDX for quantitative and qualitative evaluation of trace elements accumulation in woody plants. Int. Journal of Phytoremediation, 1, 1999, p. 169-187
- Maestri, E., Marmiroli, M., Antonioli, G., Marmiroli, N. La fitorimediazione dei metalli pesanti: approcci analitici per la descrizione della localizzazione tissutale in piante superiori , Atti V Congresso Associazione Italiana di Biologia e Genetica Generale e Molecolare (2001) ,pp.131-132.
- Marta Marmiroli, Elena Maestri, Gianni Antonioli and Nelson Marmiroli, Application of SEM/EDX and µ-SRXF analyses to describe metals distribution in Zea mays organ and tissues, JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE IV France, 104 (2003), p. 341-344
- Marmiroli, M., Antonioli, G., Maestri, E., Marmiroli, N., Evidence of the involvement of plant ligno-cellulosic structure in the sequestration of Pb: an X-ray spectroscopy-based analysis. environmental Pollution, 134/2:217-227. (2004)
- Marta Marmiroli, Elena Maestri, Gianni Antonioli, Cristina Gonnelli, Roberto Gabbrielli and Nelson Marmiroli , Microanalysis and Microfluorescence application for elemental mapping in Alyssum: technique results and comparisons, FORMATEX 2004, p. 165-172
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