Every weekend in the summer, the science ticket sets out to discover the solutions provided by living organisms to help us solve our technical, medical and scientific problems. This is the principle of biomimicry or bio inspiration. Close-up today on plants capable of cleaning up water.
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Some plants are able to suck up iron from water. This is the case with water mint or certain invasive alien species. These plants live in water. And they manage to pump in very small quantities of magnesium to develop their leaves.
Based on this observation, Claude Grison of the Chimeco laboratory, of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has developed a process to deal with water pollution on a larger scale. What she did, schematically, was that she turned the roots of these plants into powder. She uses it like a sponge by placing it in a column in which the water is filtered. And this natural sponge retains several forms of pollution including zinc, nickel, lead and arsenic. The absorptive capacity of plants is multiplied and expanded. Invasive alien plants that are a scourge become useful. And the sponge once used can be used as a catalyst or recycled. The plant filter full of metals is not considered as waste. He will be able to serve again.
It’s really interesting to clean up with plants because that’s what we can call clean chemistry. It avoids going through the use of lime which can generate toxic sludge or red sludge. A patent has been filed, a pre-industrial demonstrator has been created and a company was set up two years ago with part of the capital held by the CNRS. It is the illustration of the science that enters into development. Contracts have been signed with several manufacturers. Research on depollution by plants has existed for 13 years. 36 patents have been filed.