Can phytoremediation be a solution for the food vs fuel problem?

There are currently more than 3 million contaminated sites all over EU, according to the EEA (report 25186 EN). Contamination by Heavy Metals (HM) is particularly concerning, as they are not biodegradable and can accumulate in the food chains. With remediation being therefore an urgency, phytoremediation, when comparing to the other soil clean up methods, has proven to be an appealing low cost alternative. The technique encompasses the establishment of a vegetation cover that will ultimately stabilize the recipient sites.

Nevertheless the end destination of cultivated biomass is a common barrier for its application, it can indeed represent a prospect for generating products with added value. In fact, such kind of strategy can help responding to several environmental and economic problems at once. First by using degraded soils for valuable applications, gradually decontaminating them while simultaneously producing biomass with added value. Second by responding to the growing demand of biomass for energy generation – representing an obvious contribution to the solution of the food vs. fuel dilemma.

Although the possibility of using this novel remediation technique with the objective of biomass production for energetic purposes is of significant importance, there are very few developed studies in the area, and only some techniques have been addressed. Therefore this presentation will assess possible strategies for the utilization of phytoremediation derived biomass for the generation of energetic products.