Decontamination of lead polluted soil by phytoextraction

The main objective of the "PHYLES" project was to demonstrate that phytoremediation techniques can be used for the decontamination of lead-polluted soils in an economically sound and environmentally friendly manner. To be more specific, the project intended to demonstrate that soils with medium-large concentrations of lead (1000-1500 mg/kg) can be decontaminated in about 5 years (lowering lead concentration to 100 mg/kg). The phytoremediation costs were expected to be 2-3 times lower than those of more conventional techniques.