Project R-7537

Cropping hyperaccumulator plants on nickel-rich soils and wastes for the green synthesis of pure nickel compounds (Research)

The LIFE-AGROMINE project aims to demonstrate at a pilot-scale the following: - the provision of ecosystem services through agroecological phytomining cropping systems. - the recovery and recycling of valuable metals (nickel) from Ni-rich soils and industrial wastes (from steel industry, Ni refining, automotive and aeronautic industries). - the use of by-products generated through the metal recovery process to improve soil fertility of phytomining cropping systems - the environmental viability of nickel phytomining (assessed through the elaboration of Life Cycle Assessments, energy balance, monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and C storage, and via the monitoring of the invasiveness of serpentinophytes and impacts on local biodiversity). - the socio-economic viability of phytomining (assessed through the realisation of Cost Analyses of the phytomining chain). - the improvements in soil quality and function, and C storage, after implementing phytomining cropping systems in Ni-rich ultramafic soils and other Ni-rich substrates (with special reference to degraded areas) - the conservation of rare and endangered metallophyte species after their introduction into cropping systems through the constitution of germplasm banks and the careful use of native and adapted wild species to agricultural and land remediation sites

01 July 2016 - 30 June 2021