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Phytomining technology cultivates hyperaccumulator plants on heavy metal contaminated soils, followed by biomass harvesting and incineration to recover valuable metals, offering an opportunity for resource recycling and soil remediation. Large areas of ultramafic soils, naturally rich in nickel (Ni), are present in numerous places around the world. As an environmentally friendly and cost-effective soil remediation technology, phytomining has a broad application prospect in such areas and thus has attracted great attention from global researchers. The key processes of phytomining include: (1) high-selectivity response of hyperaccumulator plants to Ni the underlying mechanisms involved in the rhizosphere; (2) underlying mechanisms of high-efficiency uptake and translocation of Ni in hyperaccumulators; and (3) resource recycling of high-added value Ni products from the Ni-rich bio-ore of hyperaccumulators. In recent 30 years, phytomining practices have successfully carried out in United States, Albania and Malaysia. However, the research and application of this technology in China are still in the fledging stage. This paper reviews the key processes and research progress of phytomining, and points out the bottleneck, to provide theoretical basis and technical guidance for phytomining.

Phytoremediation is one of the important methods for restoring heavy-metal contaminated soils. Using high-biomass economic plants to restore heavy-metal contaminated soils can have both ecological and economic benefits, with great application prospects. Based on the analysis of current situation and existing problems of phytoremediation, we propose the advantages of high-biomass economic plants in contaminated soil remediation, and summarize the recent advances and mechanisms involved in absorbing heavy metals in high-biomass economic plants. Furthermore, the possible methods for improving the remediation efficiency of high-biomass economic plants are also discussed, to provide insights for improving the economic benefits of phytoremediation and promoting its widespread application in the future.

Outflows of trihalomethane formation potential (THMFPs) which was chosen as an index of the amount and reactivity with chlorine of THMs precursors from soils were studied with soil column experiment. The results indicated that factors influencing THMFP concentrations of leacheates were the physicochemical properties of soils, especially contents, composition and reactivities with chlorine of humic substances, the pH value of feed solution and cumulative leaching volume. The THMFP concentrations of leachates rose with increases in amounts of humic substances with high solubility as well as reactivity with chlorine. The effluents of soil samples contained the lowest THMFP concentrations under the feed solution of the lowest pH value (pH 3.0). THMFPs appeared to more easily flow out from soils with the feed solution of lower pH value, which was properly due to the increases in solubility of humic substances under the lower pH value conditions. In most cases, THMFP concentrations of leachates showed decline with the increase of cumulative leaching volumes of feed solution.