The U.S. Department of Energy is investing up to $10 million in exploring phytomining, a process using plants to extract nickel from soil, to reduce imports and support domestic critical materials supply chains. This effort aligns with President Biden’s clean energy goals and aims to establish a cost-competitive and low-carbon footprint extraction approach. Nickel is vital for clean energy technologies like lithium-ion batteries, making phytomining a promising solution. The ARPA-E Exploratory Topic, PHYTOMINES, seeks to develop technologies optimizing the uptake of nickel by hyperaccumulator plants and understanding the geologic, ecological, and economic factors affecting phytomining potential. Collaboration with various industries is encouraged.
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/news-and-media/press-releases/us-department-energy-announces-10-million-explore-using-plants