Claude Grison: the formula for clean chemistry

Not really an ecologist, and not just a chemist, she defines herself as an " ecochemist ". " Chemistry and ecology are two fields that are not radically different, but complementary. I come from both backgrounds, and that's what has enabled me to break down the boundaries between these disciplines and come up with new ideas ", explains Claude Grison.

For Claude Grison, now Director of the Bio-inspired Chemistry and Ecological Innovations Laboratory, interdisciplinarity is a necessity, as " our views and knowledge are complementary ". It was in 2007 that Claude Grison first became interested in ecology, thanks to the requests of 4 students at the Lycée Joffre: " They asked me to help them with a project on plant-based pollution control, and that's when I realized that some plants survive in hostile environments, on soils that are toxic to all other forms of life. Thanks to my teaching career, I've changed my research activities!

"Plant Follies

Intrigued and stimulated by this subject, which was not in her field, Claude Grison immediately wanted to find out more about these "plant follies". So, in 2008, she joined the Centre d'écologie fonctionnelle et évolutive. "I was the first chemist at the CEFE," recalls Claude Grison. Knowledge of ecology gives us new ideas in chemistry to create new things ".

It was in this laboratory that she began working on plants that hyperaccumulate metallic elements. What makes them special? Their roots extract metal pollutants from the soil and accumulate them in their leaves. " For the ecologist, the question is:"Why are these plants here? ". For the chemist , it's: "How do they live there? ". These two questions are complementary.

For the ecochemist, a third question then arises: can it be of any use? " You also have to ask yourself what your work can contribute to society, and what meaning you want to give to your research. And Claude Grison has found meaning. Firstly, because his work effectively cleans up soil pollution and restores ecosystems that have sometimes been severely degraded.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg... ". I learned at the time that resources of certain metallic elements were threatened and that soon there would be no more zinc, for example, even though it is an essential catalyst in many chemical reactions ". This famous zinc is extracted from the soil by plants and found in their leaves... "... What if these plants were the natural reservoir of zinc, the catalyst of tomorrow? And even the eco-catalyst of tomorrow, a new concept was born. " And even a new kind of chemistry, one that completely dispenses with toxic and polluting reagents and solvents, a truly ecological chemistry ".

Catalyst effect

Very quickly, the results of her work began to flourish, and in 2009ADEME spotted the researcher. " They wanted to offer me the Pollutec-Ademe Prize for Innovative Techniques for the Environment, but to do so, we first had to protect our work, and we hadn't filed a patent. In 1 week, a record time, it was done. " This first patent, followed by 35 others, marked a turning point in our research. And this Ademe prize has had a catalytic effect on Claude Grison's work, as he develops the use of his hyperaccumulator plants not only in mainland France, but also in New Caledonia, where soils are highly concentrated in nickel.

It was there, in the field, in the face of industrial effluents that contaminate rivers and end up in the lagoon, that the researcher realized the extent of water pollution. And what if these plant follies could also be used to clean up the water?

It's a question that's been taken to heart at the Bio-inspired Chemistry and Ecological Innovations laboratory founded in 2014. " Chemistry had become so important that we could no longer stay at CEFE, so ChimEco was born ". As early as 2016, researchers began treating aquatic systems with plants. " They have molecular antennae on the surface of their roots that capture metallic elements ". Claude Grison's team has identified 40 plant species with these special properties, using whole, living plants to capture metals in water.

Restoring the environment

The experiment took on a new dimension when Claude Grison and his team found a dead plant in their pollution control system. " Dead, it retained the same depollution capacity! The process then evolved: " We now grind up the roots to make plant filters that purify the water. And not just any roots... The chemist-ecologists use invasive species, which are veritable ecological disasters in wetlands. " Not only do we clean up the pollution, but we also preserve the biodiversity of these areas ," stresses the specialist.

A revolutionary process with circular economy overtones, since the substances extracted from water by plants are then used to produce plant-based catalysts that enable the production of various molecules required by sectors such as the pharmaceutical industry, for example. It was to add value to these products that the start-up BioInspir, which today employs 10 people, was created in 2020. The company born of the desire to create a different kind of chemistry is the only one in the world to master this technology, which uses no chemical inputs, solvents or synthetic reagents.

A new chemistry, with no environmental footprint, has earned Claude Grison the European Inventor 2022 award in the "Research" category from the European Patent Office.

Take a look at Claude Grison's work in the latest issue of Lum magazine dedicated to innovation.