Scientists are exploring the concept of phytomining, which involves using plants to absorb metals and extract them for commercial use. Certain plant species, known as hyperaccumulators, can readily absorb high amounts of metals and incorporate them into their tissues. This method offers a more efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional mining practices.
Gouging a mine into the Earth is so 1924. In 2024, scientists are figuring out how to mine with plants, known as phytomining. Of the 350,000 known plant species, just 750 are “hyperaccumulators” that readily absorb sky-high amounts of metals and incorporate them into their tissues. Grow a bunch of the European plant Alyssum bertolonii or the tropical Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi and burn the biomass, and you end up with ash that’s loaded with nickel.
“In soil that contains roughly 5 percent nickel—that is pretty contaminated—you’re going to get an ash that’s about 25 to 50 percent nickel after you burn it down,” says Dave McNear, a rhizosphere biogeochemist at the University of Kentucky. “In comparison, where you mine it from the ground, from rock, that has about .02 percent nickel. So you are several orders of magnitude greater in enrichment, and it has far less impurities.” Now the US government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, aka ARPA-E, wants in on the actio
Phytomining Mining Plants Hyperaccumulators Metals Extraction
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