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Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers

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A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (16 September 2021) | Viewed by 22157

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Dr. Céline Vaneeckhaute

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Department of Chemical Engineering, Laval University, Québec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Interests: biorefinery; resource recovery; wastewater treatment; renewable products; clean technology; decision-support systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

With the increasingly strict regulations for organic waste management and agricultural fertilizer application has come a growing interest in recovering nutrients from organic waste as bio-based fertilizer products. Nevertheless, challenges remain in improving the economic performance of nutrient recovery technologies and upgrading fertilizer product quality to meet agricultural and societal requirements. Integration of multiple nutrient recovery technologies may allow improving bio-based fertilizer formulations, while reducing overall chemical and energy needs, and hence operational costs. Indeed, nutrient recovery processes are often interdependent, and hence, there is an urgent need for systems-thinking (integration) in the field, thereby considering interactions between unit processes instead of targeting single unit process design. Depending on site-specific issues, different technologies can be integrated to recover products that meet the desired product quality specifications while minimizing operational costs. The latter generally pairs with a reduced environmental impact.

It is in this perspective that this Special Issue welcomes papers on integrated or multiprocess approaches to nutrient recovery from organic waste to recover bio-based fertilizer products that meet the requirements of agriculture and society.

Dr. Céline Vaneeckhaute
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

nutrients
recovery
recycling
technology
integration
bio-fertilizer
waste management
organics
valorization
systems-thinking

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Subsurface-Applied Coated Nitrogen Fertilizer Enhanced Wheat Production by Improving Nutrient-Use Efficiency with Less Ammonia Volatilization

by Muhammad Yaseen, Adeel Ahmad, Muhammad Naveed, Muhammad Asif Ali, Syed Shahid Hussain Shah, Muhammad Hasnain, Hayssam M. Ali, Manzer H. Siddiqui, Mohamed Z. M. Salem and Adnan Mustafa

Agronomy 2021, 11(12), 2396; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11122396 - 25 Nov 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2383

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is an essential plant nutrient, therefore, N-deficient soils affect plant growth and development. The excessive and unwise application of N fertilizers result in nutrient losses and lower nutrient use efficiency that leads to the low crop productivity. Ammonia volatilization causes a major loss after N fertilization that causes environmental pollution. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of coating and uncoating N fertilizer in enhancing yield and nutrient-use efficiency with reduced ammonia emissions. The recommended rate of nitrogen and phosphorus, urea and di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertilizers were coated manually with 1% polymer solution. DAP (coated/uncoated) and potassium were applied at the time of sowing as subsurface application. While urea (coated/uncoated) was applied as surface and subsurface application. Results showed that nutrient use efficiencies of wheat were found to be maximum with the subsurface application of coated N fertilizer which increased nutrient-use efficiency by 44.57 (N), 44.56 (P) and 44.53% (K) higher than the surface application of uncoated N fertilizer. Ammonia emissions were found the lowest with subsurface-applied coated N fertilizer. Thus, coated fertilizer applied via subsurface was found the best technique to overcome the ammonia volatilization with an improvement in the yield and nutrient-use efficiency of wheat. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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18 pages, 1265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Speciation of P in Solid Organic Fertilisers from Digestate and Biowaste

by Inge C. Regelink, Caleb E. Egene, Filip M. G. Tack and Erik Meers

Agronomy 2021, 11(11), 2233; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112233 - 4 Nov 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1871

Abstract

Phosphorus (P) is a finite resource and its reuse in organic fertilisers made from biowaste and manure should therefore be encouraged. The composition of solid organic fertilisers (SOFs) depends on the type of feedstock and processing conditions, and this may affect P speciation and hence P availability. Phosphorus speciation was assessed in eighteen different SOFs produced from biowaste and digestate. Available P was determined in 10 mM CaCl₂ extracts at a fixed pH of 5.5 and at a fixed total P concentration in the suspension. P was dominantly present as inorganic P (>80% of total P). There was a strong variation in the Fe content of the SOFs and hence in the fraction of P bound to reactive Fe/Al-oxides (P_Fe). The fraction of total P soluble at pH 5.5 correlated negatively with P_Fe pointing to fixation of P by metal salts added during processing, or by soil mineral particles in case garden waste was processed. Therefore, the use of iron salts in processing plants should be avoided. In addition, the presence of P in poorly soluble precipitates lowered the fraction of easily available P. Overall, this study shows that P_t alone is not a good indicator for the agronomic efficiency of SOFs due to large differences in P speciation among SOFs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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14 pages, 1013 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Nitrogen Fractions in Soil Fertilized with Waste Organic Materials

by Jadwiga Wierzbowska, Stanisław Sienkiewicz and Dariusz Załuski

Agronomy 2021, 11(8), 1474; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11081474 - 25 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2650

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of sewage sludge and composts produced from sewage sludge and municipal waste on the content of various forms of nitrogen in soil. The field experiment was carried out in 2004–2015. It included three crop rotations of the following plants: potato, spring barley, winter oilseed rape and winter wheat. The experiment consisted of the following treatments: control (without fertilization), NPK, manure (FYM), compost from municipal sewage sludge and straw (CSSS), composted sewage sludge (CSS), dried and granulated sewage sludge (DGSS), “Dano” compost produced from unsorted municipal waste (CUMW) and compost from municipal green waste (CMGW). Manure, composts and sewage sludge were applied once (10 t ha⁻¹ of d.m.) or twice (5 t ha⁻¹ of d.m.) in a crop rotation. It was significantly shown that the highest N-total content was in the soil fertilized with CUMW (compost produced from unsorted municipal waste). The soil fertilized with manure (FYM) contained the highest quantity of N-min. The prevalent pool of nitrogen (82.65–86.52%) consisted of N compounds not undergoing acid hydrolysis, and their smallest share was determined in the soil fertilized with NPK alone. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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20 pages, 1696 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Potential of Digestate and the Liquid Fraction of Digestate as Chemical Fertiliser Substitutes under the RENURE Criteria

by Gregory Reuland, Ivona Sigurnjak, Harmen Dekker, Evi Michels and Erik Meers

Agronomy 2021, 11(7), 1374; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11071374 - 7 Jul 2021

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 4597

Abstract

This study assessed how digestate and the liquid fraction (LF) of digestate would perform as candidate RENURE fertilisers (recovered nitrogen from manure) in nitrate vulnerable zones under the proposed criteria of the Joint Research Centre, namely, (i) a mineral nitrogen to total nitrogen ratio ≥ 90% (N_min:TN ≥ 90%) or a total organic carbon to TN ratio ≤ 3 (TOC:TN ≤ 3); (ii) limits of ≤300 copper (Cu) mg kg⁻¹ and ≤800 Zinc (Zn) mg kg⁻¹. These criteria were applied to unpublished data (n = 2622) on digestate compositional properties, further amended with data from the literature (n = 180); digestate analysis from seven full-scale biogas facilities (n = 14); and biogas industry stakeholders (n = 23). The results showed that Cu and Zn mostly met the criteria, with compliance rates of 94.7% (of 1035 entries) and 95.0% (of 1038 entries), respectively. Just above 5% (of 1856 entries) met the N_min/TN ≥ 90% criterion, while 36% (of 1583 entries) met the TOC/TN ≤ 3 criterion, while total compliance was 32% (of 1893 entries). When targeting the LF, total compliance increased noticeably, between 43 and 58% depending on DM range, indicating that LFs are better suited RENURE candidate fertilisers than unseparated digestate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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16 pages, 1625 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Differing Phosphorus Crop Availability of Aluminium and Calcium Precipitated Dairy Processing Sludge Potential Recycled Alternatives to Mineral Phosphorus Fertiliser

by S.M. Ashekuzzaman, Owen Fenton, Erik Meers and Patrick J. Forrestal

Agronomy 2021, 11(3), 427; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11030427 - 26 Feb 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3167

Abstract

The European dairy industry generates large volumes of wastewater from milk and dairy food processing. Removal of phosphorus (P) by complexing with metal (e.g., aluminium, calcium) cations in P rich sludge is a potential P source for agricultural reuse and P recycling. However, there is a significant knowledge gap concerning the plant availability of this complexed P in comparison to conventional mineral P fertiliser. The current absence of information on plant P bioavailability of dairy processing sludge (DPS) limits the ability of farmers and nutrient management advisors to incorporate it correctly into fertiliser programmes. The present study examined the most common types of dairy sludge—(1) aluminium-precipitated sludge (“Al-DPS”) and (2) calcium-precipitated lime-stabilised sludge (“Ca-DPS”) at field scale to assess P availability in grassland versus mineral P fertiliser over a growing season. The experimental design was a randomised complete block with five replications. Crop yield and P uptake were assessed for 4 harvests. The initial soil test P was at a low level and the experimental treatments were super phosphate at 15, 30, 40, 50 and 60 kg P ha⁻¹, two dairy sludge applied at 40 kg P ha⁻¹ (comparison was made with mineral P at same application rate) and a zero P control applied in a single application at the beginning of the growing season. Results showed a significant positive slope in the relationship between P uptake response and mineral P application rate indicating the suitability of the experimental site for P availability assessment. The P bioavailability of Al- and Ca-DPS varied greatly between treatments. The P fertiliser replacement value based on the 1st harvest was 50 and 16% increased to 109 and 31% cumulatively over the four harvests for Al- and Ca-DPS, respectively. The Al concentration in Al-DPS did not limit P bioavailability, but low P bioavailability from Ca-DPS can be associated with its high Ca content that can lead to formation of low soluble Ca-P compounds at alkaline pH conditions with a high Ca/P ratio. These findings show that P availability from dairy sludge can be quite different depending on treatment process. Consequently, it is critical to have P availability information as well as total P content available to ensure the application rate meets crop requirements without creating environmental risk by over application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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19 pages, 2928 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Time-Dependent Changes in the Physico-Chemical Parameters and Growth Responses of Sedum acre (L.) to Waste-Based Growing Substrates in Simulation Extensive Green Roof Experiment

by Anna Krawczyk, Iwona Domagała-Świątkiewicz and Agnieszka Lis-Krzyścin

Agronomy 2021, 11(2), 298; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020298 - 7 Feb 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1972

Abstract

Over the last decade, an increase in the use of locally available, recycled, and waste materials as growing media components have occurred in various regions of the world in extensive green roof technology. For eco-concept reasons, such a strategy appears to be appropriate, but can be problematic due to difficulties in obtaining proper parameters of growing substrate. The growing media should be properly engineered in order to enable the proper functioning of green roofs and provide suitable environment for ideal root growth. The aim of the study was to assess the utility of locally occurring waste materials for growing media composition and estimate plant- and time-dependent changes in the physico-chemical parameters of waste-based substrates in a simulated extensive green roof system during a two-year Sedum acre L. cultivation. Five different substrate compositions were prepared using silica waste, crushed brick, Ca- and Zn-aggregates, melaphyre, tuff, sand, muck soil, urban compost, spent mushroom, and coconut fibres. Optimal water capacity, particle-size distribution, pH and salts concentration were found in all substrates. A higher concentration of macronutrients (N, P, K, Mg) and trace elements (B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cd, Ni, Pb, and Cr) was found in waste-based substrates than in the commercial medium. In comparison to the parameters determined before establish the experiment, bulk density of tested growing media decreased, except for the substrates where the source of organic matter was the rapidly mineralising spent mushroom. The organic matter content in substrates after the two-year vegetation increased in relation to the ready-made substrate, with the exception of the composition with spent mushroom. After two years of the experiment, all available macronutrients and trace elements (with the exception of mineral N, K, SO₄-S, and B) concentration were higher than in 2014, while pH, salt concentration was lower. In general, plants grown in waste substrates had lower dry matter content and higher biomass. A significantly higher biomass of S. acre L. was found in the first year of the experiment. In the second year of the research, the plants grown in the commercial medium, the substrate with silica waste, and the substrate with spent mushroom produced higher biomass than in the first year. No symptoms of abnormal growth were observed, despite the higher trace element concentrations in plants collected from waste-based substrate. Waste-based growing media can be considered as a valuable root environment for S. acre L. in an extensive green roof system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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12 pages, 500 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Organic Matter Properties of Spent Button Mushroom Substrate in the Context of Soil Organic Matter Reproduction

by Marcin Becher, Magdalena Banach-Szott and Agnieszka Godlewska

Agronomy 2021, 11(2), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020204 - 22 Jan 2021

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3719

Abstract

The objective of the work was to evaluate selected properties of spent substrates used for growing button mushrooms (SMSs) and the content and quality of the organic matter in this material in the context of rational use for fertilisation purposes and potential impact on the soil environment. The materials were sampled at production facilities located in the east of Mazovia. The density and amount of spent substrate on shelves where mushrooms were cultivated were determined. The following were analysed in the laboratory: reaction, carbonate content, TC (total carbon) and TOC (total organic carbon) contents, total nitrogen, organic matter fraction composition, and humic acids properties. It was confirmed that this material had a marked potential to enrich soils in organic matter, nitrogen, and carbonates. The analysis revealed that the most important qualitative properties of the organic matter were related to the relatively high share of labile organic compounds (the fraction separated with 0.05 M H₂SO₄ and the fraction of fulvic acids). The humic acids had similar properties regardless of their origins. The humic acids (HAs) molecules displayed a substantial share of aliphatic structures which are typical of these materials at their initial decomposition stage. It can be assumed that, due to such properties, spent mushroom substrates are materials which can be directly introduced into the soil to improve their quality and prevent degradation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integrated Nutrient Recovery from Organic Waste and Bio-Based Fertilizers)

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