Author: Prithvi Simha

New Horizon Europe Project “P2Green” will pilot urine dehydration technology in Gotland!

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A consortium of 32 partner organisations from 12 European countries and Switzerland including SLU and Sanitation360 have justed signed the Grant Agreement for a four-year Horizon Europe Project aiming to “close the gap between fork and farm for circular nutrient flows” short P2GreeN. From our group in Sweden, Jenna Senecal, Prithvi Simha, Jennifer McConville, and Björn VinnerĂ„s will participate in the project. The project will start on the first of December 2022, and is coordinated by agrathaer GmbH and Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ) e.V.

P2GreeN’s overall objective is to foster a circular material flow system between urban and rural areas thereby restoring the coupling of the water-agri-food system following the 3R principle “Reduce, Reuse, Recover”. To achieve this, P2GreeN will develop new solutions for the circular economy to halt and eliminate nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) pollution by connecting blue urban with green rural infrastructure, focussing on circular nutrient flows of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), two important plant nutrients and at the same time water polluters. This objective will be achieved through the implementation and exploration of innovative N and P recovery solutions for the utilization of human sanitary waste from urban settlements and its conversion into safe bio-based fertilizers for agricultural production in three pilot regions.

Continue reading New Horizon Europe Project “P2Green” will pilot urine dehydration technology in Gotland!

We’re hiring! Two PhD student positions on development and assessment of next generation sanitation systems that recycle urine

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Our group has two new positions for hiring PhD candidates –

PhD position in technology development of next generation sanitation systems. Link: https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/jobs-vacancies/?rmpage=job&rmjob=7343&rmlang=UK

SLU has developed a new technology to treat source-separated human urine, where fresh human urine is chemically stabilised and then evaporated to produce water and a solid fertilizer. The technology has been piloted in several locations across Sweden (e.g., at the offices of VA Syd in Malmö). If implemented globally, human urine could substitute about one-quarter of current nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers worldwide.

The aim of this PhD project will be to continue the technology development, with focus on performing research in support of scaling up the urine dehydrating sanitation system. During this project, lab-scale treatment systems available at SLU will be scaled up into full scale operations for the production of 25 kg of dry fertilisers per day. The project will involve both fundamental research (e.g., evaluating changes to composition and properties of urine during dehydration) and implementation research (e.g., developing reactors for stabilizing urine at the toilet). The PhD project will be part of a larger Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action collaborative project, “P2Green” (Closing the gap between fork and farm for circular nutrient flows), where three pilot regions will scale-up and implement innovative sanitation technologies in real-life conditions. The Island of Gotland will be one of the pilot regions where SLU will scale up and validate urine dehydration. Contact: Bjorn Vinneras

PhD position in sustainable assessment of new sanitation systems. Link: https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/work-at-slu/jobs-vacancies/?rmpage=job&rmjob=7342&rmlang=UK

The aim of this project is to investigate the potential for new sanitation innovations to provide sustainable benefits by quantifying trade-offs in terms of environmental impacts, costs and uncertainties. The primary focus will be on developing decision-support tools that allow decision-makers to weight trade-offs and test options for integrating new sanitation systems into existing infrastructures. Methods used will include life cycle assessment, cost-benefit analysis and systems dynamic modeling. The assessment methods will be applied on case studies of emerging technologies for nutrient recovery from urine and wastewater in the context of an EU project. The work will include interaction with stakeholders to co-design of development trajectories for integrating new sanitation systems into the local context. Contact: Jennifer McConville

HedersdoktorsförelÀsning Madeleine Fogde

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Vi hade glĂ€djen efter tvĂ„ Ă„rs vĂ€ntan, pga COVID, Ă€ntligen fĂ„ lyssna till Madeleine Fogdes förelĂ€sning ”Communication counts” som en del i programmet nĂ€r hon utsĂ„gs till hedersdoktor vid NJ fakulteten pĂ„ SLU. Det var mycket intressant att höra vikten av att kommunicera och hur svaret pĂ„ en frĂ„ga pĂ„ hur man kan utföra en uthĂ„llig sanitetslösning frĂ„n ett katastrofomrĂ„de i Mocambique, som besvarades av Prof Emeritus HĂ„kan Jönsson och ledde till mĂ„nga installationer pĂ„ 90-talet och sedemera ledde till ett lĂ„ngvarigt samarbete kring uthĂ„llig sanitet och nu vĂ€lkomnar vi Madeleine till SLU. Se Madeleines presentation nedan, hon börjar 14 min in.

Honorary doctorate lecture Madeleine Fogde at SLU

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We had the joy, after waiting for two years, due to COVID, to finally listen to Madeleine Fogde’s lecture “Communication counts” as a part of the program of becoming honorary doctor at the NJ faculty at SLU. It was interesting to hear about the importance of communication and how a response to a question about how to construct sustainable sanitation after a natural disaster in Mozambique, that was answered by Prof Emeritus HĂ„kan Jönsson and lead to several installations of ecological sanitation systems during the 1990-ies. Later this also lead to a long-term collaboration on sustainable sanitation and now we say welcome for becoming a part of SLU. Madeleine’s presentation starts 14 min into the video below.

Mohamad Kentar ansluter Kretsloppsteknik som praktikant

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Jag kommer frÄn Syrien och flyttade till Sverige för nÀstan sex Är sedan. PÄ grund av kriget kunde jag inte avsluta mina studier I biokemi vod Universitetet i Aleppo.

Men med stor optimism och vilja att utmana mig sjÀlv ÄtervÀnde jag till skolbÀnken och lÀser nu andra Äret pÄ programmet i lÀkemedel och livsmedelsteknik pÄ Folkuniversitetet i Uppsala. Mina studier handlar om hela produktionskedjan frÄn ide till produkt. IngÄende moment Àr hygienkrav, processteknik, processkemi och relevant lagstiftning. MÄlet med min utbildning Àr att kunna förbÀttra hÀlsan och  livskvaliteten samt praktiskt arbete med uthÄllig lÀkemedels- och livsmedelsproduktion.

Det var med stor glÀdje som jag nyligen accepterades som praktikant pÄ SLU, som laboratorieassistent under 2,5 mÄnader inom fluglarvskomposteringsprocessen dÀr organiskt avfall omvandlas till djurfoder (insektslarver) och organiskt gödsel (behandlingsrest).

Links: mohamad kentar | LinkedIn. E-post: m.kentar86@gmail.com

Mohamad Kentar – New intern at Kretsloppsteknik

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I am originally Syrian and moved to Sweden about six years ago. I could not finish my last year of studying biochemistry at the University of Aleppo because of the war there. But with a lot of optimism and self-challenge, I was finally able to return to the bench of scientific research as a second-year student in the pharmaceutical and food technology at Folkuniversitetet in Uppsala, where my studies covers the entire chain of production from idea to product with hygiene requirements, process technology, process chemistry and knowledge of relevant legislation. With the aim to improve the health and quality of life of the population and work with the sustainable nutrition of the future through qualified practical work in medicine and the food industry.

Fortunately and with great happiness I was recently accepted as an intern at SLU ,as a laboratory assistant  for two and a half months in a project fly larvae composting, where organic waste is converted into animal feed (fly larvae) and organic fertilizer (treatment residues).

Links: mohamad kentar | LinkedIn. E-post: m.kentar86@gmail.com

Viktoria intervjuas av SLU Youth Institute

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Fluglarvskompostering Àr ett verktyg för att sluta kretsloppet i dagens linjÀra livsmedelsproduktionssystem. Viktoria hjÀlper hÀr till att göra reklam för  denna teknologi till kommande generation sÄ att vÄrt arbete kan föras vidare och att arbetet med att sluta kretsloppet fortsÀtta.

MÄlet med SLU Youth Institute Àr att skapa intresse hos ungdomar för global livsmedelssÀkerhet, samt att finna uthÄlliga lösningar för FNs uthÄllighetsmÄl. Programmet initierades 2020 och Àr ett av mÄnga ungdomsinstitut som koordineras av World Food Prize Foundation. Gymnasieelever kopplas samman med lokala ledare och experter för en kritisk diskussion kring de globala utmaningarna, för att delta i praktiska aktiviteter och för att upptÀcka nya intressanta sÀtt att göra skillnad i Sverige, i Europa och i vÀrlden.

Även larverna visade sin bĂ€sta sida i strĂ„lkastarljuset, turligt nog sĂ„ kan inte kamerorna förmedla lukten (Ă€n).

Video shoot with SLU Youth Institute

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To promote SLU Youth Institute and the advantages for high schools becoming part of it, Viktoria Wiklicky was invited to talk about the Black Soldier Flies in their 2022 launching video. Fly larva composting is a tool to close the loop of a now linear food production system and aims to make food production more circular. Promoting the technology to the next generation will ensure that our passion and our ideas will be continued in the future.

SLU Youth Institute aims to create interest among Swedish youth for global food security and to find sustainable solutions to the global challenges based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The programme was founded 2020 and is part of the many Youth Institutes coordinated by World Food Prize Foundation. High school students engage with local leaders and experts to discuss critical global challenges, participate in hands-on activities, and explore exciting ways to make a difference in Sweden, across Europe and around the world. By the way, also the larvae showed their best side in the spotlight of the cameras and luckily, cameras cannot record smell (yet).

Besök av handlÀggare frÄn UD pÄ SLU

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Under ett besök av handlÀggare frÄn UD som hade en heldag pÄ SLU dÀr de bland annat besökte oss pÄ kretsloppsteknik. Vi hade intressanta diskussioner kring hur vi kan sluta kretsloppet av vÀxtnÀringen och dÀrigenom bli mer sjÀlvförsörjande och minska vÄr miljöpÄverkan. Vi besökte vÄra behandlingsanlÀggningar för urintokning och fluglarvskompostering dÀr vi presenterade hur vÄr forskning kan öka resiliensen bÄde i Sverige och i vÀrlden genom att tillverka gödsel frÄn vÄrt avlopp och djurfoder frÄn matavfallet.

 

 

Visit from the foreign ministry at SLU

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During a visit by two foreign ministry officials, that had a full day at SLU about current research they visited us in the Environmental engineering group. We had interesting discussions about closing the loop of plant nutrients and thereby increasing the resilience while decreasing the environmental pollution. We did also visit our two treatment systems for urine drying and for fly larvae composting and presented our research about producing fertilisers from our wastewater and animal feed from the food waste.