Oil-polluted soil may be cleaned by plants and microorganisms
By Nigar Orujova
Scientists of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) have developed a method for cleaning oil-polluted soil with the aid of plants, microorganisms and invertebrates.
Some herbaceous plants, including mugwort, thistles and couch grass, invertebrates such as earthworms and micro-organisms, including bacteria and yeast fungus, are capable to absorb the remnants of heavy metals and radionuclides from the soil, ANAS said on September 3.
Research in this area is being conducted by the Institute of Botany, the Institute of Radiation Problems and the Institute of Microbiology under the project "Development of methods for cleaning Absheron from anthropogenic contaminants".
The studies, earmarked for three years, are being carried out within the framework of a project worth 183,000 euros of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine.
The project's manager, head of the laboratory of the Institute of Botany, Ibrahim Azizov, said the goal of the research is to make these lands suitable for sowing.
Oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan faces many environmental problems, as preservation of the environmental balance in the country during the Soviet period was not a priority. Today, the solution of these problems is one of the strategic tasks for Azerbaijan.
Such factors as oil lakes that have existed around Baku for many years, the dense fog covering the capital city and the peninsula that resulted from burning domestic waste, and absence of infrastructure for cleaning wastewater cause environmental problems. It is now planned to address this situation.
Oil production continuing for over 150 years has a primary role in the pollution of soil in Baku.
An important step, a large-scale Action Plan on improvement of the environmental conditions of the Absheron Peninsula has been adopted to prevent increased pollution in Baku and the surrounding areas.
Finding a solution of the ecological problems has become one of the top priorities of the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR, and the company has implemented some projects on cleaning oil-polluted Absheron soils over the last few years.