Biophytometallurgy: biomining metals from plant resources
- 1Columbia University
Abstract
The physicochemical controls governing metal acquisition, release, and redistribution across biological interfaces remain poorly understood. Biophytometallurgy--the microbially assisted release and recovery of plant-associated metals--was used to probe the directionality of the mechanisms controlling nickel (Ni) and rare earth element (REE) release from plants of the genus Phytolacca during solid-liquid extraction. Ni, an established phytomining target, was included as a comparator for chemical extraction. Bulk characterization did not support a detectable dominant crystalline REE-phosphate-like compartment in hydroponically enriched shoots. Dissolution and rebinding experiments instead revealed chemically accessible nickel and REE compartments, the latter of which had behaviors consistent with apparent equilibrium-like partitioning under mildly acidic conditions. During sulfur biooxidation, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans promoted REE release while providing a competing cell-associated REE sink. Consequently, aqueous REE concentrations reflected net redistribution among the separable plant, solution, and microbial phases instead of dissolution alone. These results establish a framework for studying metal partitioning across complex and coupled biological systems and support a route for aqueous REE recovery from plants without thermochemical conversion to ash.
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BibTeX
@misc{dailey2026biophytometallurgy,
title = {{Biophytometallurgy: biomining metals from plant resources}},
author = {D. A. Dailey and E. Hernandez-Pagan and S. Bailey and N. E. Raffaele and S. T. Bavaresco and A. Piatt-Price and J. S. A. Carneiro and R. N. Austin and C. J. Doherty and S. Banta},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.27.747594},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.27.747594v2},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Biophytometallurgy: biomining metals from plant resources
AU - D. A. Dailey
AU - E. Hernandez-Pagan
AU - S. Bailey
AU - N. E. Raffaele
AU - S. T. Bavaresco
AU - A. Piatt-Price
AU - J. S. A. Carneiro
AU - R. N. Austin
AU - C. J. Doherty
AU - S. Banta
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/27
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.27.747594
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.27.747594v2
AB - The physicochemical controls governing metal acquisition, release, and redistribution across biological interfaces remain poorly understood. Biophytometallurgy--the microbially assisted release and recovery of plant-associated metals--was used to probe the directionality of the mechanisms controlling nickel (Ni) and rare earth element (REE) release from plants of the genus Phytolacca during solid-liquid extraction. Ni, an established phytomining target, was included as a comparator for chemical extraction. Bulk characterization did not support a detectable dominant crystalline REE-phosphate-like compartment in hydroponically enriched shoots. Dissolution and rebinding experiments instead revealed chemically accessible nickel and REE compartments, the latter of which had behaviors consistent with apparent equilibrium-like partitioning under mildly acidic conditions. During sulfur biooxidation, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans promoted REE release while providing a competing cell-associated REE sink. Consequently, aqueous REE concentrations reflected net redistribution among the separable plant, solution, and microbial phases instead of dissolution alone. These results establish a framework for studying metal partitioning across complex and coupled biological systems and support a route for aqueous REE recovery from plants without thermochemical conversion to ash.
ER -