How Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener
Scientists are exploring a somewhat unusual green energy solution: mining metals from the earth using plants.
Typically, if soil has high levels of metal, plants will either die or do everything they can to avoid it. But, one group has taken a different path: evolve to be able to safely absorb large amounts of the metals. These special plants are called hyperaccumulators. And their ability to suck metals like nickel from the earth is called phytomining.
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy announced in March up to $10 million in funding for phytomining research.
Ira talks with Dr. David McNear, professor of plant and soil sciences at the University of Kentucky, about these fascinating flora and their promise as a greener option to metal mining.
Further Reading
This article was originally published by a www.sciencefriday.com
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