Potential Integrated Phytomining and Bioenergy

Production in the Zambian Copperbelt.

By
Prof. Thomson Sinkala
CEO – Thomro Biofuels
Email: tsinkala@gmail.com

Presented at the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) Week

Online Conference, 16-18 March 2021

CONTENT
• Introduction
• Challenges of the Current Remediation Approaches
• Hyperaccumulator Plants in the Zambian Copperbelt
• Applying Integrated Phytoremediation with Bioenergy Production
• Conclusion
Introduction
Location of the Copperbelt of Zambia
 To produce 1 MT of copper, 350 MT of waste
are generated, of which 147 MT are tailings
Land Used In the Zambian Copperbelt alone

9,125 ha - 791 mln MT of tailings 20,646 ha - 1.9 bln MT of o/burden

388 ha - 77 mln MT of waste rock 279 ha - 40 mln MT of slag

At global scale, 5 and 7 billion tons of tailings

dumps are created annually (Festin et al, 2017)
 Pollution in the Zambian Copperbelt

Soil cover and stream Effluent discharge from mine plant Acid rock drainage
sedimentation by mine tailings
Air pollution CO2, particulates, Black mountain, Kitwe
Etc at Cu-Co plant in Kitwe
Tailings
Dam

No vegetation in
Drinking water wind direction
Concentrations of arsenic, copper, cobalt, lead, zinc etc in crops/foods

Eg. Nyambe et al, 2014

Challenges of the Current Remediation Approaches
The physical, chemical and biological remediation techniques
presently used to rehabilitate polluted mine environments are
globally known to be expensive.

Mining companies are facing the choice of either

• paying for a statutory environmental assurance fund, or
• nefariously avoiding to pay for the funds.

Heavy metals in food crops growing on contaminated soils, such

as cassava and sweet potatoes, have exhibited much higher levels
of lead, zinc, nickel, and copper — with lead being a particularly
prominent health risk
Concerns on the Costs of Rehabilitation
ZAMBIA: Auditor General’s Report 2014

KEY MESSAGE
 AUSTRALIA: New South Wales Audit Office 2017
http://www.theherald.com.au/story/4656201/mine-rehabilitation-bonds-may-not-be-adequate-audit/#slide=1

KEY MESSAGE
A study by the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa
(Weiersbye 2007) has determined the cost of:
• non-biological remediation up to US$4,000/cubic metre
of soil or US$100,000 to US$3 million/hectare, and
➢ non-biological treatment of groundwater varies from less
than US$1 to US$300

• phytotechnology costs range from US$0.02 to

US$10/cubic metre of soil, or US$200 to US$100,000/hectare,
and
➢ US$0.2 to US$40 per kilolitre of water.
Hyperaccumulator Plants in the Zambian Copperbelt
Examples of Terrestrial Hyperaccumulator Plants

cf. Diplolophium sp. Celosia trigyna L. Persicaria capitata

(http://copperflora.org) (http://tropical.theferns.info) (https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org)

Zn, 206 mg/Kg Zn, 148 mg/Kg Zn, 254 mg/Kg

Cu, 3038 mg/Kg Cu, 723 mg/Kg Cu, 1306 mg/Kg
Vad Der Ent et al., 2015 Vad Der Ent et al., 2015
Co, 1060 mg/Kg
Vad Der Ent et al., 2015
 Aeolanthus biformifolius
1 wt.% Copper (Cu)
This is e.g. 100 kg of copper for, say, 10 MT
of dry biomass per hectare/year.
LME PRICE OF
US$6,500 Cu/MT gives US$650/ha/yr
Haumaniastrum robertii
1 wt.% Cobalt (Co)
This is e.g. 100 kg of cobalt for, say, 10 MT
of dry biomass per hectare/year.
LME PRICE OF
US$28,500 Co/MT gives US$2,850/ha/yr
 Examples of Aquatic Hyperaccumulator Plants

Cattail (Typha latifolia L.) Eichhornia Crassipes

(www.publicdomainpictures.net) (Water hyacinth)
Cu, 93 mg/Kg, root, Ni, 524 mg/Kg, tissue Cu, 6000–7000 mg/Kg, root
Beisner et al, Manios, et al & Hussain et al. Yang and Ye, 2009
Applying Phytoremediation Integrated
with Bioenergy Production
Phytomining + Bioenergy Production
Either harvest SHOOT or
WHOLE PLANT depending on
location of valuable products
and plant handling process

BIOMASS CAN BE USED FOR PRODUCTION OF

➢ Bioenergy (BioCNG, Bioethanol, Biodiesel, Bioelectricity, Etc)
➢ CO2,
➢ Plastics,
➢ Etc

AFTER WHICH
➢ Valuable metals can be extracted
➢ Organic fertiliser can be produced.

ADAPTED FROM: https://www.intechopen.com 19

Ni hyperaccumulator species
Estimates by Van der Ent et al. (2015):
➢ A harvest of 5−10 t of dry matter per ha
containing 2% Ni
➢ Yielding 100-200 kg Ni / Ha
➢ Nickel price of US$11.31/Kg
➢ Potential yield of ≥100 kg Ni /Ha
Prior to metal extraction, biomass can be
used for production of either
✓ electricity, or
✓ advanced biofuels, or
✓ other products.
Eg. Extract bioethanol from Cattail before extracting metals

Cattail (Typha latifolia L.) Cattail Roots Cattail Flour and Fibre
(www.publicdomainpictures.net) (www.publicdomainpictures.net) (www.publicdomainpictures.net)

METAL CONTENT YIELDS

Zn, 1412 mg/Kg, tissue Sewage cattail: 70,155 lit/ha, ethanol
Wild cattail: 10,051 lit/ha, ethanol
Cu, 93 mg/Kg, root
Cattail starch only: 23,375 lit/ha, ethanol
Ni, 524 mg/Kg, tissue
Sewage cattail with cellulose: 93,500 lit/ha, ethanol
Pb, 1108 mg/Kg, root Constructed wetlands yield: 16.1 to 42.7 t/ha, cattail
Beisner et al, Manios, et al & Hussain et al.
Cattail core flour: 7.257.5 t/ha
 Conclusion

Everyone Benefits
GOVERNMENT
• Rehabilitated land beyond mine licence areas
• Reduced poverty and criminology
• Improved water and soil quality
• Additional tax revenue
• Competitive investment destination
• Political stability
• Reduced fuel import bills
• Industrialization of polluted areas
• Improved infrastructure
• Increased localization of key economic pillars
• Stable economy due to increased energy, food, local products and jobs
• Increased prospects for public-private partnerships
MINING HOST COMMUNITIES
• Increased land availability for socio-economic uses
• Sustainable livelihoods for the present and future generation
• Numerous jobs
• Improved health and quality of life
• Improved education and other socio-economic amenities
• Reduced indulgence in criminal activities
• Improved commerce infrastructure.
• Increased Zambia’s direct role and ownership of local economy
MINING INDUSTRY
• Reduced environmental remediation bills
• Additional revenue streams through recovered metals and bioenergy industry
• Competitive mining production costs
• Job creation for mining host communities
• Improved image to mining host communities and nationally

LEARNING INSTITUTIONS
• Availability of research funds
• Sustainable revenue
• Increased research papers / articles
• Modernized teaching and R&D facilities
• Individual and institutional patents
• Increased jobs for student graduates
• Enhanced relevance to Zambian society
• Entry into the global club of top of the range institutions.
NON-MINING PRIVATE SECTOR
• Improved competitiveness of Zambia’s tradeable products
• Increased incentives for contributing to local and national economies
• Improved environment for innovations
• Improved environment for participation in public-private partnerships
• Improved incentive for job creation and infrastructure development
• Improved incentives for industrializing Zambia
• Improved contribution to RDD&D (Research, Development,
Demonstration and Deployment).
Thank you very much for your attention