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Agromining: Farming for Metals pp 297–308Cite as

Element Case Studies: Rare Earth Elements

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Part of the book series: Mineral Resource Reviews ((MIRERE))

Abstract

The growing demand of strategic resources, e.g. rare earth elements (REEs), for development of modern technologies has spurred an increase in mining activities and consequently a release of REEs into the environment, posing a potential threat to human health. Phytoremediation, regarded as an in situ and low-cost means to remediate polluted soils, uses the growth and harvest of hyperaccumulator plants that take up high concentrations of metals in their shoots, allowing metal removal from contaminated soil (phytoextraction) or commercial production of high-value metals (phytomining). In this chapter, we review the discovery of REE hyperaccumulators worldwide, particularly focusing on the fern species Dicranopteris dichotoma that preferentially takes up light REEs. Though less understood, mechanisms of REE uptake, translocation, and distribution in hyperaccumulator plants are also discussed. Finally, taking D. dichotoma as an example, we estimate the phytomining potential for REEs using this species, based on its biomass production, REE concentrations in the ash, and current market prices of REEs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41371315 and 41225004), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 15lgjc36), Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, PR China (No. 2016A020221013), and Science and Technology Transfer Program of Sun Yat-sen University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Chang Liu, Ming Yuan, Wen-Shen Liu, Mei-Na Guo, Hermine Huot, Ye-Tao Tang & Rong-Liang Qiu

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Ye-Tao Tang & Rong-Liang Qiu

  3. Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés (LRGP), Université de Lorraine-CNRS (UPR 3349), Nancy Cédex, France

    Baptiste Laubie & Marie-Odile Simonnot

  4. Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Université de Lorraine-INRA, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Jean Louis Morel

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  1. Chang Liu
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  2. Ming Yuan
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  7. Baptiste Laubie
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  9. Jean Louis Morel
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  10. Rong-Liang Qiu
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Correspondence to Rong-Liang Qiu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Université de Lorraine-INRA, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Antony Van der Ent

  2. Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Université de Lorraine-INRA, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Guillaume Echevarria

  3. School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

    Alan J.M. Baker

  4. Laboratoire Sols et Environnement, UMR 1120, Université de Lorraine-INRA, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France

    Jean Louis Morel

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Liu, C. et al. (2018). Element Case Studies: Rare Earth Elements. In: Van der Ent, A., Echevarria, G., Baker, A., Morel, J. (eds) Agromining: Farming for Metals. Mineral Resource Reviews. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61899-9_19

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