Developing eco-innovative chemical processes to valorise phytoremediation-borne biomasses – PHYTOCHEM

Due to industrial activities and accidents with chemicals, large numbers of sites are contaminated by inorganics and organic xenobiotics, which may represent health and environmental hazards. Pollution of soils has been identified by the European Commission as a major threat to European soils. For this reason the Commission adopted a Soil Thematic Strategy (COM(2006) 231) and a proposal for a Soil Framework Directive (COM(2006) 232) with the objective to protect soils across the EU, but the proposal did not yet get political agreement. Mitigation of pollution and remediation of soils is crucial to ensure that soil will remain a key natural resource for human society in Europe. Managing the pollutions represents an economic challenge, which often remains unanswered by conventional civil engineering methods, due to their inappropriate environmental impact and cost. During the last two decades we have witnessed the emergence of phytotechnologies that require, in theory, far less energy and raw materials and lead to less disruption of environmental compartments of the contaminated sites. Phytotechnologies constitute a relevant and sustainable way of using natural resources where the biomass produced can be valued.
Phytotechnologies will, in addition to remediating the soil, also significantly contribute to the need for increased biomass production, which has been a matter of political debate for several years and has been stressed in several publications of the European Commission (Biomass Action Plan [COM(2005) 628 final – Official Journal C 49 of 28.02.2005] ; An EU Strategy for Biofuels [COM(2006) 34 final - Official Journal C 67 of 18 March 2006]. Renewable perennial biomass is the key to substitute fossil fuels and to provide bio-raw (biochar, biofuels) and bio-secondary (bioplastic) materials for industrial use. Due to the increasing need for biomass, the demand for land, which is suitable for biomass production, has increased. The emergence of eco-innovative phytotechnologies will contribute towards achieving EU targets for renewable energy sources (EU directive 2009/28/EC) and reducing the diversion of EU croplands to biofuel production.
The Phytochem consortium aims at developing chemical conversion of biomass from phytotechnologies,
1) for the recovery of metals accumulated. Chemical processes have been tested by partner 5 for some plant species, and will be tested on a wider range of plant species.
2) for the production of biomass suitable for the biorefinery industry. Prehydrolysis and pre-treatment called "organosolv" developed by partner 4 will be tested on woody biomass enriched in metals.
3) The consortium also proposes to test a wider range of plant species to identify those potentially interesting in these chemical valoriazation processes.
Our researches under this call are expected to lead to an enhanced valorization of polluted sites and soils, increasing the potential for producing biomass, such as to meet the emerging needs of industry and manager of contaminated sites, while integrating into the national strategy for sustainable development "Towards a Green Economy and fair" (social responsibility, iso 14001, NF Environment label ...).