SYDNEY, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Scientists have found that leafy vegetables such as kale, cabbage, and broccoli could be used to extract toxic metals from polluted soil for use in medical technologies and energy projects.
Researchers from Australia, Germany and the Netherlands say Brassicaceae plants are "hyperaccumulators" capable of drawing the toxic yet valuable heavy metal thallium from contaminated soils through their roots and shoots, said a statement released Monday by Australia's University of Queensland (UQ).
Powerful X-rays confirmed crops in the Brassicaceae family had strong potential for "phytomining," using plants to extract metals, because of the mechanisms they evolved to extract traces of the metal thallium from polluted soil, said UQ geochemist Amelia Corzo-Remigio.
Thallium is highly toxic but valuable for use in medical, glass, and semiconductor industries, making Brassicaceae plants a potential tool for sustainable mining, said Corzo-Remigio, the first author of the study published in the journal Metallomics.
Researchers found that kale accumulated thallium in crystallized form, and therefore may be compatible with metallurgical extraction methods. The team identified thallium chloride crystal deposits along the veins of kale leaves.
They said non-conventional mining methods, such as phytomining, could help secure critical metals for medical and renewable technologies while restoring contaminated soils sustainably. ■