SOCORRO – The mining of the future may be in the extraction of metals, such as uranium, from a crop of blue fescue, rather than digging it from the ground. A scientist at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center is working on research that will accomplish just that.
New Mexico Tech Professor Dr. Christa Hockensmith said that her project has proved successful in reclaiming soil polluted by toxic chemicals and even radiation.
The plants concentrate these metals in above-ground portions of the plants. The plants can be harvested, dried, and smelted to recover the metal in a process known as metal phytomining.
“I’ve been working with this for the last ten years,” Hockensmith said. “Even before I came to New Mexico Tech. Here we’re testing which are the best plants to absorb the heavy metals out of the soil.”
She said her research has been successful with lead, mercury, uranium, and other heavy metals.
“Suppose you have a field contaminated with heavy metal, and you would like to grow corn or whatever,” Hockensmith said. “You test the soil for what metals are present. Then you plant a crop of plants that ‘like’ that metal. Then you harvest that crop and test the soil again to measure the remaining amount of metal. If it’s still present, you can plant the crop again until the soil is clear of the contaminating metal.”
The process is known as phytoremediation.
She said uranium can be remediated by blue fescue, and salt cedar is a “sponge for nickel.”
“Some plants are also used for removing pesticides, and you can even remediate PCPs with plants,” Hockensmith said.
After the toxic substance is pulled into the plant, the metals can be removed.
“You can do a number of things with the plants after harvesting,” she said. “For example, you can burn them at relatively low temperatures and harvest the metals from the plants.”
Phytomining is a win-win situation because the cost is low, and the recovered metals are valuable, Hockensmith said.
Hockensmith is conducting further research into which plants are the most productive in a special greenhouse at EMRTC.
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