Category: English

Survey for End of Wastewater project

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Robin and Jennifer from the group are collaborating in the End of Wastewater project that is also led by Robin. The aim of the project is to co-create, together with committed Swedish actors, a knowledge brokering and public engagement toolbox to support and encourage acceptance, implementation and upscaling of innovative and sustainable solutions to recirculate nutrients and carbon from human excreta and other organic residuals to agriculture. We are circulating a survey to collect information from diverse actors about how to design this knowledge tool and the support engagement material.

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Robin Harder, new postdoc to work on nutrient recovery and reuse from a systems perspective

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After ten years in Gothenburg on the Swedish West Coast, it is now time to (again) experience Uppsala on the East Coast. Having only good memories from a summer spent in Uppsala back in 2010, when I first came to Sweden, I am looking forward to work at SLU’s Environmental Engineering Group.

Through my work, I aspire to contribute to a world in which nutrients are recirculated from human excreta and other organic residuals to agriculture in a way the supports healthy water, soil, food, and people. To achieve this, I believe it is crucial that we see human excreta management as part of food and farming systems rather than as part of waste management. This premise underpins much of my research as environmental systems analyst.

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36th month meeting for the Run4Life project

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The 36 month meeting during June 2-3 for the run4life project was like everything else held like an online meeting. All presentations and discussions were made online. It was interesting to hear that all the pilot areas included in the project were progressing and people are moving into the separating houses in Helsingborg, Gent, Sneek and Vigo. We all looking forward to the final year of the project and the exciting results we will get from it.

Link: https://run4life-project.eu/

Madeleine Fogde Honorary doctor at NJ faculty at SLU

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Congratulations and welcome to SLU, we look forward to continue the collaboration in the future. Program Manager Madeleine Fogde is a trained teacher and currently program manager for the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (Siani), which is coordinated by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Siani has a broad membership base and is a very inclusive organization that offers an attractive network for people working with agricultural research globally. She has worked extensively with low-income countries in Africa, including in a water supply and ecological sanitation program in Mozambique. She has a large worldwide network in agriculture, sanitation and women’s organizations.

New publication on fate of Ascaris at various pH, temperature and moisture levels

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A new study assessed the inactivation of Ascaris eggs under various conditions and observed that the exposure of Ascaris eggs to elevated pH (10.5–12.5) at temperatures <27.5 °C for >70 days had no effect on egg viability. To accelerate the inactivation of STH, an increase in the treatment temperature is more effective than pH increase. Alkaline pH alone did not inactivate the eggs but can enhance the effect of ammonia, which is likely to be present in organic wastes.

Follow the link to access the article: https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2020.264

Senecal, J., Nordin, A., & VinnerĂĄs, B. (2020). Fate of Ascaris at various pH, temperature and moisture levels. Journal of Water and Health.

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PhD Defence of Jenna Senecal on June 11th at 9h00

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On June 11th @ 9h00 Jenna Senecal will defend her thesis titled “Safe Nutrient Recovery from Human Urine – System and Hygiene Evaluation of Alkaline Urine Dehydration.” You are most welcome to watch the defence. One may come in person to Framtiden room in the MVM building at SLU (max 25 people) or join online.

For online viewing, one can stream it from facebook at our departmental webpage. Or join via zoom: https://slu-se.zoom.us/j/65645045319 with password: 528646

Process efficiency and ventilation requirement in BSFL composting of substrates with high water content

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Our latest publication on BSFL composting entitled Process efficiency and ventilation requirement in black soldier fly larvae composting of substrates with high water content has been recently published in Science of the Total Environment. In this study we investigated the impact on increasing substrate water content on the process efficiency in black soldier fly larvae composting. We used the gathered data to make a model predicting the required ventilation for achieving a residue dry enough to allow for dry separation of larvae from treatment residue at the end of the composting. In contrast to what other studies have found, we fund that it is possible to BSFL compost substrates with water content 80 – 90 % and dry separate the larvae from the residue. For substrates with water content >90% it was more difficult, as the process efficiency decreased greatly, while the ventilation requirement increased.

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New Publication on drying human urine using different alkaline media & temperatures

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In a study recently published in Science of the Total Environment, we present results from a study that investigated drying of fresh source-separated human urine in five different alkaline media (pH > 11) at elevated temperatures (50 and 60 °C) with minimal loss of urea, urine’s principal nitrogen compound. We found that it was possible to concentrate urine 48 times, yielding dry end-products with high fertiliser value: approximately, 10% N, 1% P, and 4% K. We monitored the physicochemical properties and the composition of various dehydration media to provide useful insights into their suitability for dehydrating urine. We demonstrated that it is possible to recover >90% nitrogen when treating fresh urine by alkaline dehydration by inhibiting the enzymatic hydrolysis of urea at elevated pH and minimising the chemical hydrolysis of urea with high urine dehydration rates.

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