Evaluation of sewage-sludge based products for indoor basil production
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: As human population continues to rise, more sustainable methods of food production are required. Current practices of producing nitrogen fertilizer from the Haber-Bosch process have been affected recently by geopolitical strife, rising natural gas prices and the global pandemic of 2020. This work has investigated the use of several municipal wastewater streams as mineral fertilizer replacements on a nitrogen basis. Waste activated sludge and digested sludge were transformed using pyrolysis at low (300°C) and high (600°C) temperatures to produce biochar products that were applied to pot experiments growing basil. Reject water from dewatering digested sewage sludge was also used after filtration and two different ozone treatment for sterilization as liquid fertilizer options. Though the products did not perform as well as the mineral fertilizer control, the sludge based fertilizers were able to provide enough nutrients for the herbs to grow. Further experimentation on the proper dosing of these products has the potential to produce a material competitive with mineral fertilizer.
Institutions: Mälardalen University, Mid Sweden University
Language: English
Subfield: Waste Management and Disposal
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7102401091
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: