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Phytomining For Nickel

Posted by timothy on from the why-if-i-only-had-a-nickel dept.

jvl001 writes "The Globe and Mail has an interesting article about Inco's attempts to extract nickel from a plant (alyssum) grown on nickel rich soil. Selective breeding and bacterial adjuncts are capable of producing a plant that once incinerated may produce ash with up to 30% nickel. Waste heat from the incineration process may be used for power generation. A neat way of making use of use of land otherwise unusable for agriculture. In this case unusable because of past Inco activity."

6 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. Can this reclaim land? by bsmoor01 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I realize the article says that some soil can provide many years of nickel mining, but will these extraordinarily tough plants help reclaim the land for agriculture? Once the plants have extracted all they can, I wonder if the toxicity levels will be low enough for food-producing plants to thrive once again.

    1. Re:Can this reclaim land? by Webmonger · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yes. Here's a paper (in PDF) that discusses phytoextraction as a means of reducing heavy metal contamination:

      Of course, the practicality depends on the level of concentration and the efficiency of the plants. . .

  2. This sounds cool, but... by 0x69 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's see... You've got to control air pollution from the burning. Plant-nutrient minerals in the ash probably need to be seperated from the nickel and returned to the soil. (Or is spreading mineral fertilizer cheaper...but where does what's left of the nickel-removed-from-it ash go?). A nickel plant that's running 24x7x365 on ore from a strip mine enjoys a certain economy over one that's usually idle & waiting for the fall harvest.

    It would be nice if this worked in the real world, especially if such techniques could be extended to other minerals, pollutants, etc.

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    1. Re:This sounds cool, but... by cp99 · · Score: 2

      It would be nice if this worked in the real world, especially if such techniques could be extended to other minerals, pollutants, etc.

      Actually it can (and does). Back in my old university, there were a couple of profs who studied it. One even found a plant that would take up gold out of the soil, after treatment with thiocynate ions.

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      Warning: Some ideologies on the Net are smaller than they appear.
  3. Extracting Nickel from a plant? by Gudlyf · · Score: 3, Funny

    So my dad was wrong all along -- money DOES grow on trees!

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    1. Re:Extracting Nickel from a plant? by Medevo · · Score: 2

      nah, it does grow on trees, its more like nuts and just grows in the soil

      technical yes, but oh well

      Medevo