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Does this kill everything else in the soil? Microbes, fungus, nutrients, etc. A bunch of sterilized dirt may be better than poisoned soil, but even if it's poss
by autoexec 3y ago
Does this kill everything else in the soil? Microbes, fungus, nutrients, etc. A bunch of sterilized dirt may be better than poisoned soil, but even if it's possible to sanitize soil over millions of acres I wonder what the impacts would be to the plants and animals that we expect to live there. Saving the dirt by making it lifeless and infertile won't save the forests.
- jtriangle 3y agoIf you're breaking apart fluorine compounds, it's very likely nothing else survives.
- malfist 3y agoCamellia sinensis (tea) does really well in fluoridated soils, and can be used to decontaminate them. They're so effective at extracting fluoride that extreme tea consumption can lead to fluoride overdoses
- ballenf 3y agoUnless there remains some antisceptic by-product, the flora can quickly take back over if mixed with "healthy" soil. I would be more concerned about effectively turning the soil into clay, that is reducing the particle size too small for many types of plants. I guess mixing it with an aggregate afterward could help. Then again, the highly processed nanoscale dirt could be an ideal building product able to supplement concrete or enabling even more durable rammed earth houses. Not sure anyone would want to live inside a 99.9% PFAS-free dirt house though.
- bragr 3y agoThey refer to the byproduct as possible grinding compound or fill material so they aren't intending to use it as soil. >The process left an inert powder suitable for being a grinding additive or non-hazardous fill