Suitability of energy cropping on abandoned metal contaminated farmland.
type: CreativeWork
description: A great deal of research is being undertaken globally on the viability of alternative energy sources given the potential effects of climate change and increases in oil prices. Energy cropping is one of many emerging technologies for producing renewable energy that is being widely researched around the world, and is in fullscale production in some countries. Abandoned contaminated land, awaiting remediation is another major global problem. This masters thesis studies the potential re-use of abandoned metal contaminated land for growing ‘energy crops’ at a field site in China. Thus, with a potential to not only find an economical way to re-use and rehabilitate contaminated sites, but also to produce potentially ‘carbon neutral’ renewable sources of energy. The aim of this research is to examine the viability of growing different types of energy crops on metal contaminated land using chemical amendments. This study has involved laboratory phytotoxicity tests, pot experiments and a field demonstration trial. The site selected for this project is located near Fuyang in Zhejiang province, People’s Republic of China and is located adjacent to a former copper smelter. The four energy crops trialled at the field site are sweet sorghum, sugar cane, Chinese sumac and vetiver grass. Chinese sumac and sweet sorghum were also used in the pot experiments. The methodology has involved trialling a combination of chemical treatments to immobilise the available metals in the soil in order to alleviate toxicity to the crops, along with the selection of locally available crop species which are tolerant to the soil conditions. The chemical treatments trialled included the addition of three different clay minerals (attapulgite, bentonite and zeolite), phosphate rock and lime. The surface soils at the site are contaminated with metals (predominantly copper and zinc). All soils used in the laboratory experiments were from the site at Fuyang and were collected from the plot which has a high …
abstract: A great deal of research is being undertaken globally on the viability of alternative energy sources given the potential effects of climate change and increases in oil prices. Energy cropping is one of many emerging technologies for producing renewable energy that is being widely researched around the world, and is in fullscale production in some countries. Abandoned contaminated land, awaiting remediation is another major global problem. This masters thesis studies the potential re-use of abandoned metal contaminated land for growing ‘energy crops’ at a field site in China. Thus, with a potential to not only find an economical way to re-use and rehabilitate contaminated sites, but also to produce potentially ‘carbon neutral’ renewable sources of energy. The aim of this research is to examine the viability of growing different types of energy crops on metal contaminated land using chemical amendments. This study has involved laboratory phytotoxicity tests, pot experiments and a field demonstration trial. The site selected for this project is located near Fuyang in Zhejiang province, People’s Republic of China and is located adjacent to a former copper smelter. The four energy crops trialled at the field site are sweet sorghum, sugar cane, Chinese sumac and vetiver grass. Chinese sumac and sweet sorghum were also used in the pot experiments. The methodology has involved trialling a combination of chemical treatments to immobilise the available metals in the soil in order to alleviate toxicity to the crops, along with the selection of locally available crop species which are tolerant to the soil conditions. The chemical treatments trialled included the addition of three different clay minerals (attapulgite, bentonite and zeolite), phosphate rock and lime. The surface soils at the site are contaminated with metals (predominantly copper and zinc). All soils used in the laboratory experiments were from the site at Fuyang and were collected from the plot which has a high …
author: Egan, Sally
keywords: energy crops; metals; phytotoxicity; contaminated land; amendments; immobilisation; sorghum; sugar cane
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:51:13Z
provider: University of Adelaide
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Adelaide

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2440/77087