Short Description of the Technology – GENERAL

NIBIO and UNITO have developed an innovative technology to produce organic and organo-mineral fertilizers and a technology for nutrient calibration of materials derived from biowastes. The aim was to advance from technology readiness level (TRL) 4-5 to TRL 7-8. This technology is part of Work Package 2 (WP2), which focuses on novel solutions to decrease climate gas emissions through replace parts of the mineral fertilizer use and to decrease nutrient losses in the production of crops, with special attention to nitrogen and phosphorus. These solutions will be critical to achieve overall aims and to make food systems more sustainable. 1) NIBIO has made novel organo-mineral fertilizers from locally-available organic waste materials (e.g, fish sludge and livestock manure) adapted to be applied in Scandinavian conditions. 2) UNITO has made novel organo-mineral fertilizers using the solid fraction of pig slurry, previously acidified to reduce NH3 emissions during slurry treatment and storage.

• Novel organo-mineral fertilizers obtained from organic waste materials

Short Description of the Technology

Novel organo-mineral fertilizers may upcycle locally-available organic waste materials (e.g, fish sludge and livestock manure) and applied in Scandinavian conditions.

The technologies will be described as affecting i) nutrient recycling, ii) the decrease in energy use, iii) decrease in climate gas emissions and iv) decrease in P and N losses.

The calibration will be based on field tests with crops of the fertilizers, and a study of run-off of nutrients from our novel fertilizers in comparison to mineral fertilizer.

Innovative Features

NIBIO has made novel organo-mineral fertilizers from locally-available organic waste materials (e.g, fish sludge and livestock manure) adapted to be applied in Scandinavian conditions. They were tested in field experiments with grasses (in a ley-field), cereals (wheat and barley) and tomatoes in greenhouse.

Type of Contribution

The implementation of organic fertilizers will contribute with recirculation of nutrients and decrease the energy use and climate gasses in the production of mineral fertilizers that are replaced by this technology. However, the mineral fertilizers give a high nutrient concentration in soils early after fertilizing, but run-off of these nutrients may decrease necessary nutrients late in the growing season. On the other hand, organic fertilizers release plant available nutrients also after mineralization of the organic proportion, but this may demand a certain temperature and some time, resulting in adequate nutrient release to plants too late in the season.

Benefits for farmers, the industry, and the environment

The run-off prone mineral fertilizers and the slow-release organic fertilizers may for each of them not be the most ideal to supply plants with the nutrients they need, at the correct time. Therefore, the ideal solution may be to enrich organic fertilizers with mineral fertilizer to satisfy early need for nutrients. The organic fraction in the fertilizers can have a slow-release effect. The gradual and adapted nutrient release of organic fertilizer fractions will decrease the run-off of nutrients. Thus, the organo-mineral fertilizers can release needed nutrients in adequate rates through the whole season. The partial replacement of mineral fertilizers will decrease the high energy use and climate gas emissions in the production of mineral fertilizers.

 

• Calibration of derived slurry products for the production of N/P balanced organo-mineral fertilizers

Short Description of the technology

The application of livestock-derived organic matter to agricultural soils has notable benefits in terms of soil health and cropping system sustainability, mainly related to increasing soil organic carbon stocks as well as the partial substitution of mineral with organic fertilizers. Nonetheless, these organic nutrient-rich sources can undergo ammonia emissions during their treatment and storage. Moreover, they suffer from unbalanced nutrient inputs with respect to crop demands, causing an overfertilization of soils and an increasing potential of nutrient losses to water and atmospheric compartments (e,g, nitrate leaching, phosphorus (P) runoff, ammonia (NH₃) and GHG emissions) that limit the overall environmental sustainability of livestock farms.

Innovative Features

UNITO has applied a green alternative, i.e. a more manageable and safer reagent compared to the classical sulfuric acid to acidify slurry for reducing NH₃ emissions. A complete balance of N and P during the steps of acidification, mechanical separation of the liquid and solid fractions and their storage can lead to the preparation of a material that can be used to prepare organo-mineral fertilizers.

The process may allow a reduction of 30% in NH₃ emissions during slurry collection and storage, and an additional 30% reduction in NH₃ emissions during solid fraction composting.

The acidified solid fraction can be then dried and mixed with Ca nitrate to obtain an organo-mineral fertilizer with a N/P =10. Comparison with non-acidified solid fraction and with non-calibrated solid fraction have been carried out evaluating the application in different soil types and assessing the reduction of ammonia losses, nitrate leaching and P run-off.

Type of Contribution

Pig slurry acidication can increase NH4-N content for soil application, and reduce NH₃ and CO₂ emissions by around 60% and 30-40%, respectively. Similarly, soil application of the modified nutrient-balanced solid fraction can substitute all mineral N and P fertilizer inputs. These technologies have a potential to reduce NH₃ and GHG emissions from agricultural soils, associated with high mineral N fertilizer inputs, without leading to a soil P overfertilization.

Benefits for farmers, the industry, and the environment

These innovation technologies allow to strategically harness the nutritional value of livestock-derived waste streams, reducing ammonia emissions during slurry treatment and storage. The calibration of the derived material to meet the crops needs allows for the production of biofertilizers that can help farmers to limit nutrient losses from agrosystems. Moreover, these modified materials allow a better substitute of conventional mineral fertilizers that are generally responsible for substantial GHG emissions from intensive cropping systems. Composting plant owners may adopt these technologies and enhance the economic value of the biowaste derived materials transforming a waste in a marketable product for the agroffod chain.