Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Soil Heavy Metal Contamination Treatments

Soil heavy metal contamination results in both huge economic loss and severe health problem. Many technologies, such as soil stabilization/solidification, soil excavation, soil washing, chemical extraction and phytoremediation, have been developed to treat soil heavy metal contamination. Among these methods, phytoremediation is usually regarded as a promising, environment-friendly, and cost-effective method. However, little information has been found to support this idea. Hence, in this study, we have conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of three treatment methods (soil excavation and disposal, soil washing, and phytoextraction) in 16 scenarios of different soil texture, site scale, soil metal, and contamination levels with reviewed literature information. The results have showed that phytoextraction is more cost-effective when dealing with the slightly polluted soils, while soil washing is cost-effective for severely-contaminated scenarios.