Farming Metal From Plants Could Be the Future of Sustainable Tech

There are plants that ooze metal—and we’re farming them.

Hyperaccumulators are plants that have evolved to absorb metal, lots of metal, from the soil. These metal consuming plants come in many different kinds, and after feasting the metal remains within them—running through their vascular structures in their sap, or even their shoots, seeds, and leaves.

And a group of researchers is currently working on extracting metal from said plants—Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi, specifically. Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi is a plant that accumulates nickel, and the group of researchers reside on the island of Borneo in Malaysia.

As the demand for nickel continues to increase (nickel is an essential component of stainless steal, and its derivatives are used for things like electric car batteries or cell phones), it is crucial we look for different ways to accumulate it as mining is extremely destructive. Smelting involves tons of energy intensive healing and melting and results in tons of waste.

So how does one farm metals from these superstar plants? And how realistic is this alternative option? Find out more in this Elements.

#mining #plants #sustainability #seeker #science #elements

Read More:
Down on the Farm That Harvests Metal From Plants
The plants not only collect the soil’s minerals into their bodies but seem to hoard them to “ridiculous” levels, said Alan Baker, a visiting botany professor at the University of Melbourne who has researched the relationship between plants and their soils since the 1970s. This vegetation could be the world’s most efficient, solar-powered mineral smelters. What if, as a partial substitute to traditional, energy-intensive and environmentally costly mining and smelting, the world harvested nickel plants?

Power Plants: Turning Brownfields Green
In August 2018, the team planted the first Power Plants garden, a 1000-square-metre plot on the eastern side of the White Bay Power Station. They sowed seeds of more than two dozen annual plant species, all proven phytoremediators selected for their capacity to deal with the types of toxins on the site: heavy metals, BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene) and pesticides. Some six months later, the carefully planned Garden 01 has turned into a wild meadow in which marigolds, carrots, clover, lupins, mustard and sunflowers, in particular, are flourishing.

Combining X-ray techniques for powerful insights into hyperaccumulator plants
Visually striking images (obtained at the XFM beamline) show various hyperaccumulator plants, on the cover of the April issue of New Phytologist. In the images each element is depicted in a different colour, making up a red-green-blue (RGB) image.
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[Master_Therion]

So, someday people will work at a metal refining... plant plant?

[natealbatros]

A bit more research and we will fight the ender dragon

[augustus]

I hope that the main take-away from this pandemic is that we as humans are subject to nature, and that climate change deniers realize that we aren't invincible. Sustainability must be the goal for our world economy, the one that comes after our current economic depression. Godspeed, everyone, stay safe.

[forlornfriend]

I’m happy to see that this timeline also has phytomining in development.

[kenneth]

Attack on titan has a bamboo metal plant that they use to create the 3D gear.

[methanoid]

I hate to say it but... the enthusiasm from Maren is "infectious" :-D
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[FrostyLich]

I randomly thought about this a few years ago. Then I thought it was a dumb imaginary idea that wouldn’t work. Then I saw this video

[hamdibadrimohamed]

Imagine what happens when a sheep accidentally eats that plant...
iron sheep.

[mfaizsyahmi]

"The Malaysian part of Borneo"

I see your power move to dodge angry comments from Malaysians in general and Sabahans in particular wrt to pronounciation of Sabah.

[thetacoguyy]

I love how excited she gets when talking about recycling, wish my parents did the same when I get good grades

[SirJamez]

Apple - we need 10tonnes of zinc for our new iPhone

Zinc Farmer - We will have it ready for the iPhoneXX

[StekliCujo]

Cool! No more scenarios.
I`m so sick and tired of when such things happen.

[smartmushrooms]

Years ago, I heard that Cannabis (hemp) was being being used in separate experiments to absorb heavy metals in Chernobyl and a mine in Colorado.. I haven't seen anything since. But if these experiments were successful, a fast growing plant like hemp could be extremely useful in phytomining. Right?

[marianoalippi]

Traditional mining pollutes, these techniques would be incredible to implement for example to recover the soils of the mines where for example they are used to remove the products to make the electric car, it seems fascinating to me that Seeker can investigate to give sustainable solutions in all its industrial process to make the electric car.

[dhawthorne]

Conifers, particularly spruce trees, love iron. When I was a kid, my neighbor was a landscaper and use to tell me all sorts of trick for starting and caring for different plants. When he helped us remove a dead spruce from the property, we got the digging iron stuck in a wire cage. He told us that evergreens like a lot of iron so a lot of landscapers will leave the cage around the root ball and just cut up the burlap through the wire. Back in the old days they would collect bent and discarded nails from jobs on new construction properties and throw a handful down in the hole of any pine fir, spruce or holly they would plant.

[Nolanthegardener]

Seeker: College level science presented by a kindergarten teacher.

[dcorbe]

This isn't exactly sustainable though because there's still only a finite amount of metal in the ground. We need to fund materials research so we can find viable alternatives to heavy metals.

[ViriatoII]

I'm a PhD student working with Brassica juncea and other wild relatives. I had no idea of this! You're such a source of inspiration, I'm going to share this with all my colleagues!

[SilverVolo]

Im sorry but the rainbow bookshelf in the background really distracted me. I love the way it looks.

[DeadJack]

Bamboo are great silica accumulators. For those crystal nerds out there. ;)