TerraClean.earth turns contaminated mining ground into a stacked, watertight carbon store. Pennestum SpM biomass is grown on the site, liquefied by pressure explosion, and injected by a deep pressure protocol to build an engineered peat-like barrier between cleaned topsoil and persistent contamination beneath.
TerraClean.earth combines three proven mechanisms — phytoremediation, pressure-explosion liquefaction, and deep pressure injection — into a single rehabilitation programme that simultaneously sequesters carbon and forms a watertight separation layer between cleaned topsoil and the underlying contaminated mining stratum.
Pennestum SpM is planted on the rehabilitation site. The European version grows more moderately than tropical cultivars, tolerates poor and metal-loaded soils, and is managed as a controlled biomass crop for remediation rather than as a food or forage claim.
Harvested biomass is mechanically chipped to a homogeneous substrate. Pre-damaging the cell walls is what makes the next step — pressure-explosion liquefaction — clean and efficient.
Chips are pressurised and suddenly decompressed. Cell walls rupture and the biomass becomes a colloidal liquid of ultra-fine fibres, lignin fragments and sub-micrometer particles — the working fluid for injection.
Through injection pipes the liquefied mass is delivered at 1.2 m baseline depth — variable per geology — in pressure pulses of 40–60 L over 2–3 seconds, forming a continuous engineered barrier.
The injected mass consolidates into a watertight, fibrous, semi-elastic package. Pores seal; lignin and cellulose form a quasi-anaerobic layer that behaves like accelerated peat — and is quantifiable for carbon certification.
A remediated topsoil ready for grazing, agroforestry or habitat restoration; a sealed barrier at depth; a contaminated stratum hydrologically isolated; and verifiable carbon stored per injected tonne.
The programme can be modelled for European mining and brownfield conditions with Pennestum SpM at two harvests per year, and adapted for warmer geographies where mine-closure obligations, legacy contamination and carbon-credit demand converge.
Abandoned and active gold operations across Colombia, Suriname, Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa — typically loaded with mercury residues, cyanide tailings and acid drainage.
Battery-metal mines in DR Congo, Zambia, Chile, Peru, Indonesia and the Philippines, where heap leaching and tailings dams leave large rehabilitation acreages.
Surface-mined bauxite and iron-ore landscapes in Brazil, Suriname, Vietnam and subtropical northern Australia — large footprints, low residual fertility, suited to deep-rooted grasses.
Polymetallic legacy sites where Cd, Zn, Pb and Cu coexist. Pennestum SpM is positioned as the controlled phytoremediation crop for this metal panel, with PGPR consortia evaluated per site.
Environmental agencies with orphaned legacy sites, and multilateral funders — World Bank, IFC, IDB, AfDB, Green Climate Fund — financing mine-rehabilitation programmes at country scale.
Corporate decarbonisation budgets seeking premium, durable, nature-based removals — Microsoft, Stripe Climate, Frontier Climate-coalition profiles — co-located with measurable remediation impact.
Numbers below are concept and early-pilot indications drawn from the Carbon-Alert method and peer-reviewed work on Pennestum-type phytoremediation. Field validation in mining context is the immediate next step; everything here is offered for engineering and investment review, not as guaranteed performance.
Remediation fees per hectare (typically €2,000–8,000/ha by contamination class) and CO₂-certificate revenue stack on top of one another — exact split is contract-defined. Compared with HDPE-liner capping (€25,000–80,000/ha capex) and excavation + off-site treatment (€100,000–500,000/ha), the TerraClean cumulative cost sits around €10,000–25,000/ha over 5–7 years, with a positive CO₂ balance.
TerraClean.earth is engineered as a stacked system. Each layer carries its own function — phytoextraction above, hydrological isolation in the middle, in-situ containment below — and each is sized to the geology of the site.
The Pennestum SpM stand absorbs heavy metals from the upper 0–1.2 m through roots and shoots — phytoextraction into the harvested biomass. Repeated cycles progressively lower the residual metal load in the topsoil.
Pressure-explosion produces particles from sub-micrometer up to tens of micrometers. On injection these fines seal soil pores; lignin and cellulose form a fibrous, semi-elastic matrix that hardens into a quasi-anaerobic, peat-like package.
The mining stratum stays in situ — no excavation, no off-site transport. With the barrier in place above, residual metals can no longer leach into groundwater or surface-water systems. The stratum functions as a sealed depot.
Pennestum SpM is the controlled biomass crop used for the TerraClean.earth remediation cycle. The European version grows less aggressively than tropical variants, is planned around two harvests per year, and is routed according to measured metal content after each cycle.
TerraClean.earth extends a Carbon-Alert injection method to mine-land rehabilitation. The mechanisms are well supported in principle; the integrated application, the European biomass yield and the final barrier performance still require operational pilot validation. We are explicit about this.
TerraClean.earth is open to mine operators, environmental agencies, multilateral funders and corporate carbon-credit buyers. We are particularly interested in 100–500 ha pilot sites, including European mine-land and brownfield locations where the lower-yield Pennestum SpM version can be validated.
For site screening, geotechnical scoping, injection-protocol design and biomass logistics.
For licence, joint-venture and forward-purchase discussions, multilateral co-financing, and CO₂-credit architecture (VCS · Gold Standard · ART).
