Creating fertilizers from organic waste can help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and promote sustainable production.
Creating fertilizers from organic waste can help reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and promote sustainable production. One way of doing this is through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), which converts biomass into biocrude oil through a high-temperature, high-pressure process. Two studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign explore the use of a fungal treatment to convert the leftover wastewater into fertilizer for agricultural crops.
“HTL uses wet biomass from organic sources such as swine manure or food waste. The process yields wastewater, called hydrothermal liquefaction aqueous phase (HTL-AP), which is usually discarded. We know it contains nutrients that can be used for fertilizer, but they are mostly in organic forms that plants can't access. HTL-AP may also contain toxic heavy metals, depending on the type of biowaste,” said co-author Paul Davidson, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences and The Grainger College of Engineering at Illinois.
“We explored the use of Trametes versicolor, a white-rot fungus, to break the organic nitrogen compounds into ammonia or nitrate and potentially remove toxic components. As an eco-friendly approach, T. versicolor has been explored to treat different wastewater and seems a promising candidate to treat HTL-AP,” said Vitória Leme, lead author of the first study.
Read more at University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
Image: Vitória Leme working with fungal treatment under a biosafety hood. (Credit: College of ACES)
