| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2025 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
REWAS 2025: Sustainable Practices in Strategic and Critical Raw Materials: Exploring Supply Chain Resilience and Recycling Innovations
|
| Presentation Title |
Mycomining: Using Fungi to Forge the Future of Critical Materials |
| Author(s) |
Andrew K. Hoffman |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Andrew K. Hoffman |
| Abstract Scope |
One of the major up and coming advancements in sustainable practices for critical mineral extraction is the use of plants to harvest critical minerals from soils also known as agromining or phytomining. Something that has been severely overlooked is Earth's great bioengineer: fungi. Fungi have the potential to break down a variety of toxic materials including organic waste, and have been shown to accumulate heavy metals that can be toxic. While previous efforts have either focused on biotoxicity of elements in mushrooming species or the use of fungi for bioremediation of biotoxins, we propose that mycomining can leverage fungi for direct mineral extraction from soils. We give an overview of previous literature that highlights the potential of fungi for mineral extraction, and our intention of where the future of mycomining can take us in a sustainable circular economy. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Extraction and Processing, Recycling and Secondary Recovery, Sustainability |