Purifying contaminated soil with the help of plants that can then be used as building materials was exactly the kind of innovative idea that the jury of SLU and Sparbanken Skåne’s Innovation Award were looking for. The winners Nina Safavi and Johanna Larsson have continued to develop their idea.
When contaminated soil is discovered, it usually leads to large soil masses being dug up and taken away. In addition to the transport this entails, the soil’s beneficial microorganisms are lost and there is a risk of invasive species becoming more widespread.
“Huge amounts of soil are being moved around in our society today,” says Nina Safavi, a student at SLU Alnarp.
During her time working as a park planner in the United States, she saw how contaminated soil was either transported to landfill or buried under new soil.
“I was shocked by the scale of this and thought we should be able to use plants to clean the soil instead, but as an intern I didn’t have time to look into this solution.”
On the Master’s Programme in Landscape Architecture, she met fellow student Johanna Larsson, who had tested and investigated how different plant materials can be used as building materials during the construction of her home.
“I’ve done some building with clay, it’s a natural construction technique in which plant material can contribute oil and fibres,” explains Johanna.
When Nina and Johanna were brought together, the seed was sown for the winning project Phyto-Matter. The method is based on phytoremediation, which is the use of plants to extract or stabilise pollutants in the environment. In concrete terms, this means that plants absorb pollutants from the soil masses and thus there is no need to move the soil. The unique aspect of the students’ project is that it investigates how the plant material can subsequently be used as raw material in different building materials and the different ways in which the toxins are encapsulated.
One example of a potential application is heavy metals, which can be encapsulated in plants. In some cases, the plants need to be incinerated and the ash can then be reused in the form of, for instance, ceramic products such as tiles or glaze.
“The plants create different colours, so it’s possible to produce a wide range of aesthetic effects,” says Nina.
They also stress that at the present time we don’t know which metals or substances will be valuable in the future.
“This is a way to retain substances that may become valuable rather than just throwing them away.”
The plants store the contaminants in different ways. An important ongoing task is to identify which plants can extract which types of contaminants, the way in which they are stored in the plant and how long the process takes.
“We want to develop a knowledge base to provide a guide on plant choices for different types of contaminants but also which raw materials they can be used for afterwards. The knowledge exists, but is scattered; we want to make it more accessible and compile it in one place.”
Johanna and Nina envision an open source solution.
“We can’t do all the cultivation tests ourselves, so it’s important for more people to contribute new information. The results will also vary depending on the growing zone, so it’s important to obtain local information.”
After winning the Innovation prize Johanna and Nina have recieved VFT-funding from SLU Holding to further develop their project. Through the funds, a web application has been developed where users can discover and search information about different plants and how they can be used to deal with pollution. The application is free for use at Phyto-Matters website.
A video has also been produced to more clearly present the concept to potential users.
They plan to use the prize money of SEK 100,000 to visit a few sites where the method has been tested, including the Swedish glassworks Orrefors, which has extracted nickel from plants. The prize money also makes it possible for the students to continue working with ‘Malmö in the making’, an initiative within the City of Malmö in collaboration with the World Capital of Architecture, which Copenhagen was 2023.
“We participated in the public programme, where Malmö residents made material out of plants during a workshop.”
Neither of them expected to win the innovation award; they saw their entry primarily as a good opportunity to practise pitching their idea. Before the competition, they also participated in Green Innovation Park’s pitch training.
“It gave us some good tips on how we can make our information more accessible.”
They recommend participating in competitions, awards and similar schemes.
“Apply for everything you can; your idea improves when you’re forced to use a different language than you normally do during your studies or research. It raises new questions and the process is constantly developing.”
They also advise collaborating.
“Find a partner; it’s so much easier and more fun when you have someone to brainstorm with,” says Johanna.
Johanna has one year left of her studies, while Nina graduated this year. Both of them enjoy their studies and plan to work as landscape architects afterwards.
“When I return to working life, I will have the courage to say ‘let’s do this instead’ when there’s talk of removing contaminated soil,” confides Nina.
The SLU Alnarp and Sparbanken Skåne’s Innovation Award is open to all ideas, but the sustainability aspect is a central part of the assessment. The total prize money of SEK 200,000 is divided into a first prize of SEK 100,000 and two growth prizes of SEK 50,000 each. Prizes are awarded in both the student and researcher category. The next entry period will open in early 2024. More information about the award can be found here (in Swedish).
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