Converting wasteland into wonderland by earthworms—a low-cost nature’s technology for soil remediation: a case study of vermiremediation of PAHs contaminated soil

Rajiv K. Sinha (), Gokul Bharambe and David Ryan
Additional contact information
Rajiv K. Sinha: Griffith University
Gokul Bharambe: Griffith University
David Ryan: Griffith University

Environment Systems and Decisions, 2008, vol. 28, issue 4, 466-475

Abstract: Abstract Earthworms in general are tolerant to many chemical contaminants including heavy metals and organic pollutants in soil and can bio-accumulate them in their tissues. Earthworms species like Eisenia fetida, Eisenia tetraedra, Lumbricus terrestris, Lumbricus rubellus and Allobophora chlorotica have been found to remove heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Cu, Hg, etc.) pesticides and lipophilic organic micropollutants like the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from the soil. They ‘absorb’ the dissolved chemicals through the moist ‘body wall’ in the interstitial water and also ‘ingest’ by mouth while the soil passes through the gut. They either ‘bio-transform’ or ‘biodegrade’ the chemical contaminants rendering them harmless in their bodies. Meanwhile the quality of the soil is improved significantly in terms of physical, chemical and biological properties as the worms thoroughly upturn and disperse the soil, ingest large volumes of soil and excrete nutritive materials (NKP and micronutrients) in the form of ‘vermicasts’ along with millions of beneficial soil microbes including nitrogen fixers.

Keywords: Vermiremediation technology using earthworms; Earthworms convert wasteland into wonderland; PAH—carcinogenic; mutagenic and immunodepressive chemical; Earthworms—a soil detoxifying agent; Earthworms bio-accumulate; biodegrade and bio-transform chemicals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10669-008-9171-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:envsyd:v:28:y:2008:i:4:d:10.1007_s10669-008-9171-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer.com/journal/10669

DOI: 10.1007/s10669-008-9171-7

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment Systems and Decisions from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().