Phytomining, sometimes called agromining,[1] is the concept of extracting heavy metals from the soil using plants.[2] Specifically, phytomining is for the purpose of economic gain.[3] The approach exploits the existence of hyperaccumulators, proteins or compounds secreted by plants to bind certain metal ions. These extracted ores are called bio-ores.[4] A 2021 review concluded that the commercial viability of phytomining was "limited"[1] because it is a slow and inefficient process.
History
Phytomining was first proposed in 1983 by Rufus Chaney, a USDA agronomist.[5] He and Alan Baker, a University of Melbourne professor, first tested it in 1996.[5] They, as well as Jay Scott Angle and Yin-Ming Li, filed a patent on the process in 1995 which expired in 2015.[6]
^US5711784A, Chaney, Rufus L.; Angle, Jay Scott & Baker, Alan J. M. et al., "Method for phytomining of nickel, cobalt and other metals from soil", issued 1998-01-27
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