RemePhy

Now we all know plants are amazing, responsible for life on earth and producing compounds scientists can only dream of, but now they’re tackling a whole new problem, soil pollution. RemePhy, a young Imperial College London spin-out based at Rothamsted Enterprises, are using plants to help clean up the mining industry through a process known as phytoremediation.

Their phytoremediation process extracts harmful metal ions from the soil. This process has even been sold as an alternative, green method for mining.  It uses plants to extract specific metals from the soil, accumulating them inside before processing to extract the metals.  Sounds amazing, right? But unfortunately, it has never really taken off, with the actual process of accumulation slow, meaning effective uptake requires long periods of time.

RemePhy have solved this problem of slow accumulation following extensive research by their founder Franklin Keck.  He developed an interest in phytoremediation of metals during his masters work, and then took it even further investigating the topic during his PhD studies at Imperial College London.  Firstly, he identified a plant which could successfully accumulate metals within its biomass. This was a weed which is natural to the northern hemisphere from the brassica family, they specifically selected this so they could undertake field trials in the UK.  However, not happy with the speed of accumulation, they went one step further and identified a bacteria which thrived within these plants.  The bacteria and the plant were able to work together and accumulate metals faster than any other examples out there.  It is this symbiotic relationship between the plant and bacteria which RemePhy exploit, providing up to 17 × metal uptake improvement compared to existing plants. Their bacteria and plant combination is patent pending.

The exceptional results prompted the founding of RemePhy which Franklin started alongside his PhD studies.  They are hoping to use their plants to help clean up polluted soil where metals are found in abundance.  RemePhy are firstly targeting mine tailing, which is when materials are left over and stored following commercial mining operations.  Recent high-profile incidents have highlighted the potential problems of mine tailing, with tailing dam collapses taking lives and polluting huge areas of land and soil.  Cleaning soil after these incidents is complex and costly, with RemePhy providing a viable and green avenue to do this.  By putting their plants in this polluted soil they can remove waste metals cleaning up the soil.  Additionally, these plants can be collected and processed to recover the metals, which they plan to do with a partner company Lixea.  RemePhy clean, recycle and provide essential metals for an ever-demanding market, with purities of 99% achieved in studies.

It’s not just us who are impressed, while undertaking Conception X, a London-based accelerator, RemePhy were shortlisted from 100 teams, with the 12 best technologies able to present to investors.  They have also received investment through angel investors while Cambridge Future Tech, who recognised their potential, are now their co-founder.

RemePhy have recently moved into labs at Rothamsted and are undertaking more field trials to help optimise their process further, trialling the polluted soil of mining companies.  They are hoping to be a service provider, being contracted to clean up polluting soil, with the purified metal extracts an added bonus to cleaning up the world.  Additionally, they are investigating recycling the generated biomass.  Future remediation will likely move towards brownfield sites, where metals are deposited following coal combustion.

They are looking for more industrial partners to test their plants, with the company hoping to embark on real-world trials soon.  They are also interested in investment to help the operation scale and expand to other parts of the world and help clean up our polluted soils.  If you are interested in partnering with Remephy or would just like further information please reach out by email to Franklin.  Please also check out the Remephy website.

We are excited to see their progress and also wish their founder Franklin good luck writing and completing his PhD.

 

Images courtesy of Remephy & Tom Fisk via Pexels.