Biorefinery for Rehabilitation of Heavy Metals Polluted Areas

Abstract

Biorefinery applied in heavy metals polluted lands proposed here describes a process starting from soil (polluted and unfit for food and feed production) and solar energy stored in carbohydrates (regarded here as a solar energy carrier) to deliver liquid and gaseous biofuels, green building block chemicals for the market and return the rest of the matter (not delivered to the market) as fertilizer and soil improver, extracting the heavy metals from the polluted soil for safe reuse and remediating the land to sustainably deliver resources in a circular bioeconomy. The circular economy proposed in this chapter offers a novel approach to land rehabilitation by investigating the opportunity for economic value creation as an integral part of a rehabilitation strategy and production of biomaterials and biofuels as renewable energy carriers. The case study approached here can be developed in a complete circular biorefinery process and value chain enabling the use of heavy metals polluted lands for production of renewable energy and biomaterials and at the same time serve as a means of rehabilitation of contaminated lands. This biotechnology can be transferred and adapted in other areas improper for food/feed production due to contamination human industrial activity.