Management of Oil Spills by Using Phytoremediation of Grass Plants

Pollution from petroleum waste has caused a decline in soil productivity. Hydrocarbon spills on the soil has led to disruption to the surrounding ecosystem, including towards people living around the region. This issue remains as Indonesia is an oil-generating country that produces in large scale along with high waste of petroleum. The amount of land contaminated due to the oil production process increases thousands of tons annually. Oil spills may reduce the stability of the soil and the soil function degradation that results into critical lands. The technique of restoring contaminated land with phytoremediation could be used as an alternative to land restoration using plants to immobilize pollutants, absorb and transform them into cells of plant tissue. Plant groups such as grass have higher potential for land restoration compared to other plants as they have plenty of roots and vigorous roots system spreading onto the soil. However, the use of this technology requires coordination between stakeholders to ensure the use of phytoremediation is optimized. The purpose of this research is to analyze grass plants and their potentials to restore oil-polluted soil in connection to the land sustainability. Phytoremediation technology may be applied to remove contaminants from polluted soils with affordable, effective cost, and environmentally friendly.