Phytoremediation: an environmental option to

mine rehabilitation

Rene Juna R. Claveria Department of Environmental Science

Ateneo de Manila University

Tribute to Mentors National Institute of Geological Sciences

UP Diliman 15 June 2012

Dr. Rudy C. Obial

• RCObial and Associates

• Mineral exploration, mine evaluation, mineral processing, engineering geology, site investigations, research and others

• Geochemical exploration

• Geostatistics

Dr. RCObial and Geochemistry

• Applications in Exploration, Mineral Deposits, Mine Evaluation, Mineral processing

• Graduate course in Geochemistry • Rose, Hawkes and Webb, 1979,

Geochemistry in Mineral Exploration

• Geobotany and Biogeochemistry • Brooks, 1972, Geobotany and

Biogeochemistry in Mineral Exploration

• Brooks, 1983, Biological Methods of Prospecting for Minerals

Serpentine Ecology

Nephentes alata Spathoglothis kimballiana var. Angustifolia

Phytotechnologies

Provide solutions to pollution problems using plants – “Clean and Green”

Phyto (plant)

Technologies

• Phytoremedation

• Phytomining

• Phytostabilization

• Phytoextraction

• Phytovolatilization

• Phytotransformation

• Phytocapping

• Rhizofiltration

• Rhizodegradation

Phytotechnologies

Plants and metal rich soils

• Metal in low concentrations are important plant nutrients (e.g. Cu, Ni, Zn).

• At high concentrations, metals can be highly phytotoxic.

Phytoremediation

Remediation using metallophytes offers an alternative to clean up

contaminated soil and water

Metallophytes

Plants which can grow and are tolerant to elevated levels of

metals/metalloids in soil

Philippine Metallophyte Research Consortium

A multidisciplinary approach to conserve

metallophyte biodiversity and to develop their potential for ecological restoration and

remediation of metal contaminated soils

Researches on Metallophytes

• Theses and publications on geobotanical surveys, metal concentrations in plants, hyperaccumulators and mine rehabilitation

• Crawford Fund Training Workshop on Phytoremdiation

• Public Sector Linkages Program (PSLP-AusAid) After Mining Workshop

• 1st National Bioremediation Conference

• NAST RTD on Mining

• 1st National Symposium Workshop on Environmental Science

• SJSA Annual Colloquium

Iron content of plants growing on nickeliferous laterites

LegendMPSA Boundary

Roads

Rivers

Laterite Extent

Contour Interval 20m

UTM Coordinates Zone 50

Old Minesite

Base Camp

594500 595000 595500 596000 596500 597000 597500 598000

985000

985500

986000

986500

987000

987500

988000

988500

989000

989500

990000

Iron Assay 0-1 meter sample

% Fe

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

48

50

52

54

Brookes Point, Palawan

Sapotaceae Planchonella

Apocynaceae Alstonia Macrophylla

Cunoniaceae Weinmannia

Copper content of plants growing on Cupriferous Soils

Lepanto, Mankayan, Benguet

Nephrolepis hirsutula Dicranopteris linearis

Pteridium aquilinum Pteris sp.

Hyperaccumulators

Plants with the ability to accumulate extraordinarily high levels of metals in

their shoots

Hyperaccumulators

Threshold values for hyperaccumulators

metal Cd Co Cu Pb Mn Ni Zn

mg/g

dry wt.

100 1000 1000 1000 10000 1000 10000

Approximate ‘normal’ upper limits of plant tolerance

mg/g

dry wt. 15 0.3 30 800 30 500

Comparison of Foliar Metal Concentrations

Some hyperaccumulators…

Metal Plant species Concentration

(mg/g)

Conc. in normal

plants (mg/g)

Cd Thlaspi caerulescens 3000 1

Co Haumaniastrum robertii 10200 1

Cu Haumaniastrum katangense 8356 1

Pb Thlaspi rotundifolium 8200 5

Mn Macadamia neurophylla 55000 400

Ni Alyssum bertolonii 13400 2

Ni Berkheya codii 17000 2

Se Astragalus pattersoni 6000 1

Th Iberis intermedia 3070 1

U Atriplex confertifolia 100 0.5

Zn Thlaspi calaminare 10000 100

Phyllanthus balgoolyii (Euphorbiaceae), a shrub found in open areas of stunted forest, Palawan, Republic of the Philippines. A, Cut stem exuding a jade-green liquid that contained 88,580 ug/g Ni dry weight; B, leaves contained 16,230 ug/g Ni and stems contained 5,440 ug/g Ni dry weight; C, leaves crushed onto filter paper soaked with dimethylglyoxime, showing the vivid purple color of the dimethylglyoxime-Ni complex.

Sibertia acuminata (Sapotaceae), New Caldenonia Latex sampling

Sap

sample

Ni

[%,w/w]

1 7.58

2 6.55

3 6.70

4 5.64

5 5.34

6 6.23

mean 6.34

a)

b)

c)

PIXE (Particle induced x-ray emission) maps of gold localization within a) stem and b) leaf cross sections and a scan of c) the leaf surface of Brassica juncea, Indian Mustard.

Gold concentration in greenhouse grown canola plants treated with

0.2g/kg KCN as a function of the gold concentration in the soil (KAu(CN)2 )

Arsenic phytoremediation in Guangxi, South China (Pteris vittata L. seeding, 2007)

February 2009: An opportunistic field trip to the ultramafic region of Acoje, Zambales – discovery of a Ni hyperaccumulator: Using ICP-OES elemental analysis - Ni values of about 300 – 1200 ug/g in dry leaf tissue.

Breynia cernua (Euphorbiaceae) Nickel Hyperaccumulator

Breynia cernua (Euphorbiaceae) Nickel Hyperaccumulator

Average relative nickel

percentage

Ratio

Epidermis 6.48% 3.75

Mesophyll cells

near epidermis 2.32% 1.34

Vascular bundle 1.73% 1

Interesting thoughts…

Hyperaccumulators can be used for decontamination of metal polluted

sites in tropics as well as for phytomining which can benefit

mining communities in transition during closure

Phytomining

Mining using hyperaccumulators to

extract metals from soil

“Mining metals using plants”

Alyssum corsicum Ni hyperaccumulator (Anatolia,Turkey)

Phytomining

Feasible for highly valuable metals

Mine rehabilitation

Indigenous plants

P8 Dennstaedtiaceae Pteridium aquilinum

P11 Dennstaedtiaceae Sphenomeris retusa

Introduced plants

P17 Gramineae / Poaceae Chrysopogon zizanioides

Vetiver

P18 Fabaceae / Leguminosae Gliricidia sepium

Kakawate

Mine rehabilitation

• Casuarinaceae Casuarina equisetifolia Agoho

• Chromium (19 ug/g), Cobalt (ND), Iron (663 ug/g), Nickel (13 ug/g)

Mine Rehabilitation

• Dr. Castillo (2012), ERB-DENR Mining Bioremediation Research Initiatives, NAST RTD in Mining

•The establishment of species with

N-fixing potential (i.e. agoho etc )

as pioneer species can tolerate

mining adverse sites even with

almost nil NPK and abundant heavy

metals. They have an advantage

than indigenous, non-fixing and

slow-growing ones.

•The establishment of identified relatively fast growing species performers are important

in rehabilitation of mined areas. The slow growers tend to get stunted, absorb heavy

metals and perish due to all the combination of long term adverse site conditions.

Maraming salamat po!

Acknowledgement

Dr. Augustine Doronila

Balik Scientist

University of Melbourne

Our Gratitude to the Mentors

Dr. Rudy C. Obial

Dr. Arthur Saldivar-Sali

Dr. Walter W. Brown