Curing Contaminated and Saline Land with Industrial Crops for Bio-based Products

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Europe faces a growing challenge of land degradation, with millions of hectares affected by contamination and salinization.

This poses significant risks to human health, ecosystems, and agricultural productivity.

Some figures

650,000

contaminated sites in the EU and UK

Where polluting activities took place or are still taking place.
2

Million

Hectares

Potential extension of land contaminated by military, industrial activities, mining or landfills in the EU + UK.
7,6

Million

Hectares

Extension of coastal land classified as salt-affected with an additional 72 million hectares considered sodic in EU27.

Approach

IASIS is a Horizon Europe project to develop and demonstrate innovative phytomanagement solutions for contaminated and saline land with the use of industrial crops, while producing intermediate and high-value end products for the bio-based economy.
Developing and demonstrating solutions to revive contaminated and saline land, using a range of selected industrial crops, resilient to soil pollutants and salinity.
Extracting valuable compounds from crop biomass, to produce high-value bio-based products.
Developing sustainable value chains for the bio-based economy adopting a cascade biorefinery approach.
Enhancing biodiversity, soil functionality, and ecosystem services.
Engaging farmers from the start, equipping them with knowledge for managing challenging soils, and providing income-generating opportunities.

IASIS is structured around a series of key activities each one addressing a specific aspect of the project’s objectives.

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Develop different high-yield crops for contaminated and saline soils.

Test phytomanagement on demo sites.

Train farmers to cultivate industrial crops.

Create scalable “lighthouse” models.

Convert biomass into high-value products using oilseeds and lignocellulosic crops.

Build sustainable value chains for bio-based applications.

A tool to assess the best possible biomass-to-products pathways, sustainability and viable business models​​.

Share results and collaborate with farmers, industry, research organizations and institutions.

Develop policy recommendations​.

Eight farm scale case studies in six countries

IMPACTS

Mitigate the human exposure and the intake of contaminants in contaminated sites
Increase feedstock availability for the bio-based economy
Contribute to soil healing through phytomanagement and land recovery in contaminated and salt-affected soils.
Increase know-how to extract and process compounds from industrial crops into high value bio-products

IASIS CONTRIBUTES TO

A soil deal for Europe

IASIS promotes the cultivation of contaminated and saline soils, which reduces desertification, conserves soil organic carbon stocks, prevents erosion, and improves soil structure and biodiversity​.

The EU Bioeconomy strategy
IASIS contributes to resilient rural areas by restoring landscapes and ecosystems and to prosperous rural areas by improving the added value of farming and other bioeconomy activities. IASIS also develops substitutes to fossil-based materials that are bio-based, recyclable and biodegradable​.
EU Green Deal and CAP
IASIS promotes low-input agriculture, fosters innovation in crops and bio-based products, contributes to new business models, and supports the circular use of biomass, while also creating new green jobs.​

News

IASIS Press Release

December 5, 2024

The IASIS project, a new Horizon Europe project launched in October, is tackling this challenge head-on, by developing innovative solutions for the production of a wide range of bio-based products, obtained from non-edible crops, grown on contaminated and saline land.

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