Turning brownfields into greenfields with the help of biofuels

The feverish industria- lisation of the world during the 20th century has left its dirty hallmark in the form of endless "brownfiels" - polluted industrial sites the soils of which are contaminated by hazardous waste and pollution. The cost of cleaning up and re-using these countless sites is enormous. Not only the West faces high bills, but the rapidly developing global south does so even more, because of a lack of environmental standards and clean technologies. In China for example, it is estimated that up to 10% of the entire country's GDP might have to be spent on cleaning up these dramatically polluted terrains on which old industries once thrived. As we showed in a piece about mining in Africa, 'rogue industrialisation' is even more common elsewhere in the developing world, and questions abound about the capacity of future generations to invest in protecting their immediate environments. It seems like much of the developing world is copying the West's mistakes.

But there are interesting ways to clean up our past in an efficient way: brownfields could be turned into 'greenfields' with the help of biofuels. Environmental News Bits reports about a research project at the Michigan State University (MSU) that seeks to turn industrial brownfields green with a project that would grow crops for biofuels which could bioremediate the polluted sites.

Kurt Thelen, MSU professor of crop and soil sciences, is leading the investigation to examine the possibility that some oilseed crops like soybeans, sunflower and canola, and other crops such as corn and switchgrass, can be grown on abandoned industrial sites for use in ethanol or biodiesel fuel production. One of the project's partners is NextEnergy, a nonprofit organization that supports energy technology development.

Thelen: "Right now, brownfields don't grow anything. This may seem like a drop in the bucket, but we're looking at the possibilities of taking land that isn't productive and using it to both learn and produce."

The project now is a two-acre parcel that is part of a former industrial dump site in Oakland County's (Mich.) Rose Township. Thelen's group is looking to determine if crops grown on brownfield sites can produce adequate yields to make them viable for use in biofuel production. The crops also need to produce adequate quantities of seed oil.

A secondary objective is to examine whether the growing plants actually contribute to bioremediation, meaning they take up contaminants from the soils, without affecting their quality for use in biofuels. This might make them especially useful to grow on contaminated brownfields:

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"As the chemical engineers work on developing a national spec for B20, we'll grow the crops in the marginal areas and see if they can meet it," Thelen said. "We're replicating our study on campus on good agricultural land to compare yields and the quality of biofuel produced from an agricultural land base versus a marginal brownfield land base and see if there's a difference in yield and quality of biofuel."

The three-year study is supported by DaimlerChrysler, NextEnergy and Project GREEEN (Generating Research and Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), the state's plant industry initiative at MSU. The study also is supported by the MSU Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

"Biofuel production is going to require a significant land base to meet future production expectations," Thelen said. "Use of marginal lands or sites not preferable for food crops is a good idea. We'll be looking at whether it is something that might offer multiple benefits."