Agromining: farming for metals in the future?
Open accessAbstract
Phytomining technology employs hyperaccumulator plants to take up metal in harvestable plant biomass. Harvesting, drying and incineration of the biomass generates a high-grade bio-ore. We propose that "agromining" (a variant of phytomining) could provide local communities with an alternative type of agriculture on degraded lands; farming not for food crops, but for metals such as nickel (Ni). However, two decades after its inception and numerous successful experiments, commercial phytomining has not yet become a reality. To build the case for the minerals industry, a large-scale demonstration is needed to identify operational risks and provide "real-life" evidence for profitability.
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Almost all hyperaccumulators have genetically adapted to accumulate various metal ions and have been used in phytomining technologies for their extraction.
“Almost all hyperaccumulators have genetically adapted to accumulate various metal ions and have been used in phytomining technologies for their extraction (van der Ent et al., 2015; Yaqoob et al., 2023; Bhat et al., 2024).”
From Plant hyperaccumulators: a state-of-the-art review on mechanism of heavy metal transport and sequestration (2025) · cites this paper as van der Ent et al., 2015
The Abstract and Introduction (page not available in our copy) say that phytomining uses hyperaccumulator plants to recover metals and that plants hyperaccumulate different elements. They do not establish that almost all hyperaccumulators have genetically adapted or have been used for phytomining; the Introduction says not all are suitable candidates. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredAsh from burning biomass can be used as a bio-ore to recover metals.
“This ash can be used as a bio-ore to recover metals (van der Ent et al., 2015).”
From Sustainability of phytoremediation: Post-harvest stratagems and economic opportunities for the produced metals contaminated biomass (2023) · cites this paper as van der Ent et al., 2015
Mine dumps and HMs polluted sites can be treated with phytoremediation, but the produced by-products can generate significant revenue rather than being a liability.
“Thus, mine dumps and HMs polluted sites can be treated with phytoremediation, but the produced by-products of phytoremediation can generate significant amounts of revenue, rather than being a liability (van der Ent et al., 2015; Krisnayanti et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2021).”
From Sustainability of phytoremediation: Post-harvest stratagems and economic opportunities for the produced metals contaminated biomass (2023) · cites this paper as van der Ent et al., 2015
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Flagged first, then by citations
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- Authors
- van der Ent, A., Baker, A. J. M., Reeves, R. D., Chaney, R. L., Anderson, C. W. N., Meech, J. A., Erskine, P. D., Simonnot, M.-O., Vaughan, J., Morel, J. L., Echevarria, G., Fogliani, B., Rongliang, Q., & Mulligan, D. R.
- Affiliations
- Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Agricultural Research Service (US)
- Massey University (NZ)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Laboratoire Sols et Environnement (FR)
- Diversités biologique et fonctionnelle des écosystémes terrestres, Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), Nouméa 98851, New Caledonia
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2015-03-04
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 4773-4780
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2068883806
- Cited by
- 351
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 38 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 12
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-14-CE04-0005)
- University of Queensland
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Heavy metals in environment
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Metal Extraction and Bioleaching
- Keywords
- agromining, phytomining, hyperaccumulator plants, nickel recovery, metal hyperaccumulation, bioleaching, mineral resource recovery
- MeSH terms
- Agriculture, Metals, Mining, Nickel, Soil Pollutants
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