Circular fertilisers combining dehydrated human urine and organic wastes can fulfil the macronutrient demand of 15 major crops.

Autor: Perez-Mercado LF; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Energy and Technology, Box 7032, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden; Centro de Aguas y Saneamiento Ambiental (CASA), Universidad Mayor de San Simon, Calle Sucre y Parque Latorre, Cochabamba, Bolivia., Simha P; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Energy and Technology, Box 7032, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden. Electronic address: Prithvi.Simha@slu.se., Moreira AP; Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism, and Geography, Av. Costa e Silva, S/N, Cidade Universitária, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil., Paulo PL; Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Urbanism, and Geography, Av. Costa e Silva, S/N, Cidade Universitária, Campo Grande, MS, Brazil., Vinnerås B; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Energy and Technology, Box 7032, SE-750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 Nov 15; Vol. 951, pp. 175655. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Aug 20.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175655
Abstrakt: This study evaluated the potential for combining dehydrated human urine with one other form of organic waste to create circular fertilisers tailored to meet the macronutrient demand of 15 major crops cultivated globally. Through a reverse blending modelling approach, data on 359 different organic wastes were used to identify 38 fertiliser blends. Materials found to be particularly suitable as blending materials were various biochars and ashes, due to their low nitrogen and high phosphorus and/or potassium content, and byproduct concentrates, due to their high phosphorus content, since the nitrogen content of human urine is disproportionately higher than its phosphorus content. Several organic wastes were suitable for fertilising more than one crop. The macronutrient content of the simulated fertiliser blends was comparable to that of blended inorganic fertilisers, but only a few blends precisely matched the macronutrient demand of crops. Fertilising crops with some simulated fertilisers would potentially result in excess application of one or more macronutrients, and thus overfertilisation. For organic wastes with data available on their content of six or more heavy metals, it was found that the simulated fertilisers generally met European Union regulations on use of fertilisers of organic origin in agriculture. Overall, these findings suggest that fertiliser blends combining dehydrated human urine and organic wastes, both of which are widely available globally, could replace inorganic blended fertilisers in agriculture. Such recycling would help the global food system and water sector transition to circularity and promote better management of plant-essential nutrients in society.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Prithvi Simha and Björn Vinnerås are co-owners of Sanitation360 AB, a university spin-off commercialising various technologies for recycling human urine. They declare that the work reported in this study was not influenced by their involvement in this company. Prithvi Simha reports financial support was provided by Research Council of Norway. Bjorn Vinneras reports financial support was provided by Swedish Research Council. Paula Loureiro Paulo reports financial support was provided by Coordination of Higher Education Personnel Improvement. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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