The chemistry of the future lies in plants
She had already made a name for herself with an innovative technique for soil decontamination using plants. The team led by Claude Grison, professor at UM, is now making a name for itself with the invention of "ecocatalysis": a revolutionary process that opens up new horizons for green chemistry.
Plant follies
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They are called Noccaea caerulescens, Iberis intermedia, and Anthyllis vulneraria. These very special plants have a unique characteristic: they are capable of extracting heavy metals from the soil. In 2011, in Saint-Laurent-le-Minier, Claude Grison's "plant follies" demonstrated that they alone could rehabilitate soil damaged by centuries of mining.
Since then, similar plants have been used in Crete, New Caledonia, Gabon, and even China. Everywhere, the plants selected by the Laboratory of Bio-Inspired Chemistry and Ecological Innovations (ChimEco, CNRS/University of Montpellier), have made it possible to extract metals scattered throughout soils rich in zinc, lead, cadmium, copper, manganese, nickel, and palladium.
A new green sector for industry
Not content with fulfilling their ecological mission, these miraculous plants also enable the recovery of metals that are sometimes as precious as they are toxic. These "hyperaccumulators" have a superpower: they are capable of storing heavy metals in their leaves... All that remains is to recover them using a 100% eco-friendly thermal and chemical treatment.
Better still, Claude Grison's little protégés are also proving to be invaluable aids in a very common chemical process: the "reduction of carbonyl derivatives." This process is widely used in industry, but generates a lot of waste and requires the use of expensive metals. "The market is huge,"reveals Claude Grison, "because this process is used in the manufacture of most everyday objects. For the same operation, processes using hyperaccumulator plants are more environmentally friendly and even more efficient."
The revolution in eco-catalysts
So effective that they are attracting growing interest from manufacturers. The ChimEco laboratory has already filed no fewer than 36 patents on the use of ecocatalysts in chemistry. The areas of application are countless. Biocosmetics, but also perfumes, the pharmaceutical industry, biopesticides, and even those "key molecules" that industry is so fond of, most of which currently come from petroleum derivatives.
Producing high value-added molecules while cleaning up soil pollution: this prospect, which reconciles industry and ecology, is certainly appealing. "By providing the necessary funding to develop large-scale production of pollution-reducing plants, the chemical industry itself will soon be driving the entire ecological sector forward,"says Claude Grison. Pollution reduction would thus become an economically viable project. A revolution.