The use of marginal lands for biofuel crop plantations is seen as a move to increase the land base of biofuel crops as the future demand of the commodity increases. Biofuels crops can be planted in abandoned industrial land sites, rendered marginal/unproductive by soil contamination with industrial pollutants for two objectives: biofuel feedstock production and bioremediation. Bioremediation, the use of plants to remove or degrade contamination from soils and surface waters, has been proposed as a cheap, sustainable, effective and environmentally friendly alternative to conventional remediation technologies.

Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU), in partnership with Daimler-Chrysler, are exploring the possibility of utilizing industrial landsites (“brownfields”) for growing corn and switchgrass as bioethanol feedstocks, and soybeans, sunflower and canola as biodiesel oilseed crops.

The study area is a former industrial dump site in Oakland County. The team, lead by MSU professor, Kurt Thelen, is determining whether crop yields are sufficiently high to make the strategy viable. At the same time, they are also investigating whether biofuel crops can remove contaminants from the soil, and whether this remediation capability affects the quality of the crops for biofuels use..