Phytoextraction and thermal biomass processing: a multi-purpose approach to empower the circular bioeconomy?

Authors

  • Tobias Pape Thomsen Roskilde University, Denmark

Abstract

The METRIK research group at the Department of People & Technology at RoskildeUniversity in Denmark is a diverse group of academic experts that work problem oriented and inter disciplinary with a holistic system perspective to support development and planning of sustainable development especially related to environmental issues within socio-ecological systems. One of the central R&D areas in the METRIK group is the development of new value chains for a circular bioeconomy. The topic is addressed from many angles from the technical to the social sphere around a nexus of; i) soil restoration and development, ii) biomass production, iii) biomass conversion and use, and iv) nutrient re-procurement, reproduction and recycling. A special case within this research area is the combination of phytoextraction and thermal biomass processing in a biorefinery context to remediate soil health and fertility while producing materials and products for new circular bioeconomy value chains. This approach is presented here as a way to feed value directly into the circular bioeconomy while simultaneously increasing the economic resource base on the long term. This short presentation discuss some of these potentials and describe a generalized example of such a system where the focus is on pyrolysis as a process that may provide thermal purification of toxic biomasses grown for phytoextraction of polluted soils and the related production and use of biochar as nutrient carriers and soil enhancer substrates.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Downloads

Published

2020-11-20

Issue

Section

Innovative plant-based phytoremediation technologies and methods for cleaning po