Trial site, Sabah, Malaysia
Sabah, tropical 'metal farm' on ultramafic soil
A shallow ultramafic soil in Sabah: over 90% of the field has more than 2,000 µg/g of total nickel, of natural origin, with a large plant-available fraction and little calcium, potassium and phosphorus.
Contaminants
Metals
Plants and fungi at this site
PhytoremediationField scale
Phyllanthus rufuschaneyi
Nkrumah, Tisserand, Chaney, Baker, Morel and colleagues set up the first tropical nickel agromining field and studied its soil and the performance of the local candidate species, in the field and in pots.
Outcome Shoots held over 2% nickel by weight and the «bio-ore» obtained was very pure. The paper describes the start of the trial: a fertiliser regime, mass-propagation methods and biomass-processing techniques are still needed.
From the literature
Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.
Plants
- Berkheya coddiiBerkheya coddiiEvidence: field
- Odontarrhena bertoloniiBertoloni's alyssumEvidence: field
- Odontarrhena chalcidicaYellowtuftEvidence: field
- Pycnandra acuminataBlue sap treeEvidence: field
Fungi
- Pisolithus albusEvidence: greenhouse
- Pleurotus eryngiiKing oyster mushroomEvidence: laboratory
Sources
Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.