Funding by: ZIM Network “Central Innovation Programme for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)” of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi)
Funding ID: ZF4742401BA9
Project executing or management agency: AiF Projekt GmbH
Funding period: 01.10.2019 – 31.03.2022
Project partners: University BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg and Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH

HyPhy studies the feasibility of monitoring heavy metal accumulation in hyperaccumulators with hyperspectral sensors. The development of such monitoring systems contributes to the recycling of environmentally critical heavy metals and supports the development of environmentally friendly processes for metal recovery (Phytomining). The phytoscreening considered here can be used to profitably mine raw materials such as nickel, zinc and copper with hyperaccumulators. For the project purposes, hyperaccumulators will be used, due to natural ability to accumulate heavy metals in high levels without experiencing phytotoxicity. The method will be tested and validated in a field at the former Rieselfelder Deutsch Wusterhausen using hyperspectral sensors supported by drones. Two sensors will be used: a VNIR hyperspectral sensor from Cubert GmbH and a SWIR hyperspectral sensor HySpex from the Norwegian company NEO. The two optical sensors are validated with the point spectrometer PSR+ from Spectral Evolution. The German Research Centre for Geoscience is responsible for the provision of the sensors and for the data processing and development of data products.