Increasing resilience to the impact of climate change on secondary resources through assisted phyto-mining as an eco-technology for the circular economy (CHAIN)
Project code: PN 23-39-04-03
Project manager: Dr. Ing. Iustina Popescu
Description
The CHAIN project aims to significantly contribute to improving environmental quality and the long-term supply of critical materials (CRMs), by developing innovative eco-technologies that allow the recovery of CRMs from mining waste and the removal of metal contaminants (PTEs) from contaminated soils.
The project will test the efficiency of microorganism-assisted sunflower plants for extracting metals from mining waste and soil. Through this process, called assisted phytoremediation, contaminants will be transformed into resources, which will have a significant impact on the environment and will contribute to the protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. The CHAIN project will also make significant contributions to improving the long-term environmental impact by developing predictions on the effects of environmental conditions on the mobilization and transformation of CRM and PTE, as well as the efficiency of assisted phytomining under different climate change scenarios.
Objectives
The main objective of the CHAIN project is to develop and validate an innovative assisted phyto-mining technology that allows the recovery of critical raw materials from mining waste and the remediation of soils affected by them, in a circular process that is economically efficient, beneficial to the environment and acceptable to society. To achieve this goal, the CHAIN project will follow four directions:
- Identifying and assessing the potential for assisted phyto-mining in mining areas in Romania. This involves identifying mining areas in Romania that have potential for assisted phyto-mining and assessing this potential through two case studies, targeting the waste dumps of Teliuc and Rosia Poieni.
- Development and validation of innovative phytoremediation technologies for the recovery of metals from mining waste and soil. Through interdisciplinary experiments that will validate the efficiency of sunflower plants and microorganisms to extract metals from mining waste and soil. These experiments will be used to develop sustainable and efficient technologies that allow the recovery of metals from soil and the transformation of mining waste into resources.
- Evaluation of the efficiency of assisted phytoextraction under climatic stress conditions. These experiments will be carried out under controlled conditions, which will simulate climate change and its effect on the efficiency of assisted phytomining. Through models predicting the effects of different climate change scenarios, the effectiveness of the developed technologies in the long term, as well as their sustainability and benefit for the environment and society, will be determined.
- Dissemination of project results to the scientific community and the general public. Dissemination of project results to the scientific community and the general public through conferences, scientific publications and information and promotional materials will ensure that the project results are known and used by both the scientific community and the general public.
