Eksempler pÄ sirkulÊre avlÞpssystemer i Europa og Norge

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Seminarium pÄ Norsk Vannförening i Oslo kring cirkulÀra lösningar i Norge. Björn deltog och presenterade sin vision för framtida avloppslösningar som Àr helt cirkulÀra i huset. Visionen Àr lÄngt ifrÄn diskussionerna om hur vi skall behandla vÄrt avlopp idag, dock finns de flesta delar för detta system redan idag, det stora steget Àr att faktiskt vÄga foga samman alla delar. PÄ seminariet deltog personer frÄn akademin och frÄn industrin. Alla var eniga om att kÀllsorterande system Àr system för framtiden. Norge stÄr inför stora investeringar inom VA-sektorn för att minska miljöpÄverkan frÄn avloppsutslÀppen. Hemse Kjerstadius frÄn NSVA presenterade i Helsingborg och visade att man kan bygga sorterande avloppssystem Àven i centrala staden och motivera det med ekonomi och miljöfaktorer. Det var Àven flera presentationer frÄn Norska deltagare som visade att det i vissa centraliserade sammanhang kan vara vÀl vÀrt att bygga sorterande avloppssystem med en kombination av centraliserad och decentraliserad behandling beroende pÄ vilken fraktion det handlade om. Det som mÄnga lyfte fram under seminariet, och som gÀller Àven i Sverige sÄ finns det mÄnga oklarheter kring regler och lagar kopplade till sanitet som inte Àr centraliserad.

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Alkalisk urintorkning, dess function och system

Examples of circular sanitation solutions in Europe and Norway

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A seminar was held at the Norwegian water association in Oslo focusing on circular sanitation solutions in Norway. Björn participated and presented his vision for of the sanitation system of the future – being off-grid and fully circular inside a house. The vision is far ahead of the discussions about how we should treat our wastewater today. Most systems needed for a fully circular sanitation system already exist today, though they are still yet to be combined.

At the moment, Norway is facing major investments in the water and wastewater sector with a goal to bring down the environmental pollution. Hamse Kjerstadius from NSVA in presented their system with source separation installed in the city center of Helsingborg. His motivation for this implementation was economy and the environment. There were also several presentations from Norwegian delegates showing that under some specific circumstances source separating systems are economically more feasible when combining local and central treatments. One important factor lifted at the seminar, and that is true for Sweden as well, is that many of the regulations and legislations are unclear when it comes to sanitation that is not based on current conventional system.

The seminar was attended by people from academia, industry, and municipalities, where all were united in the vision of source separating system as the wastewater technology of the future.

Link to program

Alkaline urine dehydration, function and system.

 

Prithvi and Bjorn write a feature article on urine recycling for IWA’s magazine – The Source

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Decentralised sanitation systems based on source separation and urine recycling can contribute much to the existing wastewater regime. Prithvi Simha and Bjorn VinnerÄs show how innovative technologies such as urine drying can improve the circularity of sanitation systems. Read the full article here: https://www.thesourcemagazine.org/the-disruptive-opportunity-for-mainstreaming-urine-recycling/

China should focus beyond access to toilets to tap into the full potential of its Rural Toilet Revolution

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Check out our latest article, a collaboration with the Zifu Li group at USTB Beijing that was published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling:

Zhou, X., Simha, P., Perez-Mercado, L. F., Barton, M. A., Lyu, Y., Guo, S., … & Li, Z. (2022). China should focus beyond access to toilets to tap into the full potential of its Rural Toilet Revolution. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 178, 106100.

Abstract: In China, over 47 million toilets in rural areas have been upgraded since the nationwide sanitation program, popularly referred to as the “toilet revolution”, was launched in 2015. However, little is known about the perceptions of rural households regarding these new toilets or the fate of human excreta collected using them. To investigate the other side of the toilet revolution, we surveyed 980 rural households from 22 provinces across China in 2020. We found that most households used an on-site sanitation system (i.e. septic tanks and pit latrines), where urine and feces were mixed and collected (88%), stored in pits or tanks (79%), emptied by the households themselves (60%), applied on farmland as fertilizer (45%), or used for biogas production (5%). Despite the toilet revolution-driven infrastructure upgrade, only 25% of the households were satisfied with their sanitation system and pointed to health risks from issues in the toilet interface and the treatment and reuse of excreta as areas of concern. The majority preferred an “out of sight, out of mind” approach, in which the local government handles excreta without involving the households and without asking them to pay for such management. Meanwhile, 80% supported the idea of local nutrient recycling and believed that human excreta should return to farmland as fertilizer or used for biogas production. Our findings suggest that decision makers in local governments across China must urgently explore ways to upgrade all parts of the sanitation service chain so that rural sanitation can be truly improved to positively influence the progress on other national sustainability goals.

N2Brew Project and Urine Drying featured in Nature!

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Separating urine from the rest of sewage could mitigate some difficult environmental problems, but there are big obstacles to radically re-engineering one of the most basic aspects of life. Check out the article by Chelsea Wald that was featured in Nature magazine yesterday. Prithvi Simha from our group along with other familiar names in the urine diversion world were interviewed by Chelsea who presents a well balanced view of the future of urine recycling and sanitation. Read the article here: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00338-6

Förbehandling av grönsaks-, och fruktavfall innan fluglarvsbehandling förbÀttrar inte behandlingseffektiviteten, men förenklar processen

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I vÄr senaste publikation om fluglarvskompostering med larven av den amerikanska vapenflugan (Hermetia illucens) undersökte vi effekten av förbehandling pÄ processeffektivitet och vÀxthusgasutslÀpp. Vi utvÀrderade fluglarvskompostering av broccoli- och blomkÄlsavskÀr och apelsinskal med och utan förbehandling och jÀmförde resultaten med matavfall  som anvÀndes som kontroll. De förbehandlingar vi undersökte var en tvÄ veckors inokulering med svampen Trichoderma reesei eller ammoniaklösning. Hypotesen var att svamparna skulle bryta ner cellulosa och hemicellulosa till lÀttillgÀngliga kolhydrater, medan tanken med ammoniakförbehandlingen var att den bÄde skulle bryta cellstrukturen samt tillföra kvÀve till mikrobiotan som skulle kunna assimilera kvÀvet till protein.

Continue reading Förbehandling av grönsaks-, och fruktavfall innan fluglarvsbehandling förbÀttrar inte behandlingseffektiviteten, men förenklar processen

Pre-treatment of fruit and vegetable waste prior to BSFL composting does not improve efficiency but simplified processing

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In our latest publication on black soldier fly larvae (BSFL; Hermetia illucens) composting, we investigated the impact of pre-treatment on process efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. We evaluated BSFL composting of broccoli and cauliflower cuttings and orange peel with and without pre-treatment, and compared the results to those for food waste (control). The two pre-treatments we investigated were a 2 w inoculation with 1) the fungi Trichoderma reesei or 2) ammonia solution. The hypothesis was that the fungi would break down cellulose and hemicellulose to easily available carbohydrates, while the idea with the ammonia pre-treatment was that it would both break cellular structure and add nitrogen for the microbial community to assimilate into proteins.

Continue reading Pre-treatment of fruit and vegetable waste prior to BSFL composting does not improve efficiency but simplified processing

Studyvisit to VAFAB in VÀsterÄs

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We went on a study trip to the waste management company VAFAB in VĂ€sterĂ„s with students from our two courses about waste management, ”Safe nutrient recycling 15HP” and ”Waste management 5HP”. A very interesting tour that gave insights about the volumes of waste that we all generate, among the things we visited we had a bus tour over the 45 hectar old landfill. Additionally we had a nice tour of the newly re-built biogas plant and hear about the challenges they had with sediments in the reactors from egg shells, sand and dirt that consumes reactor volumes. The produced biogas is used for the local buses and the bio-fertiliser is collected by local farmers for free.

Food waste bags that have been collected in the VÀsterÄs region are stored before they are feed to the anaerobic digester.

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Studiebesök pÄ VAFAB i VÀsterÄs

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Vi Ă„kte förra veckan pĂ„ studiebesök till avfallsbolaget VAFAB i VĂ€sterĂ„s med studenterna frĂ„n vĂ„ra tvĂ„ kurser som hanterar avfallshantering, ”SĂ€ker nĂ€ring i kretslopp, 15HP” och ”Avfallshantering 5HP”. Det var en vĂ€ldigt givande tur som gav tydlig insikt i mĂ€ngderna avfall vi alla genererar, dĂ„ vi bland annat Ă„kte med bussen över den gamla deponin som Ă€r 45 hektar stor. Dessutom fick vi se den nyligen ombyggda biogasanlĂ€ggningen och höra om problemen i biogasreaktorerna som orsakas av sediment frĂ„n Ă€ggskal, jord och sand som tar upp en stor del av reaktorvolymen. Den producerade biogasen anvĂ€nds till drivmedel, frĂ€mst för stadens bussar, samt biogödseln som hĂ€mtas gratis av lokala bönder.

MatavfallspÄsar som samlats in i VÀsterÄs regionen och vÀntar pÄ att rötas.

Continue reading Studiebesök pÄ VAFAB i VÀsterÄs

MVM 10 year jublee

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Förra veckan fyllde vÄr huvudbyggnad MVM, som inhyser vÄra kontor laboratorier, 10 Är och vi firade alla tillsammans! MÄnga klipska hjÀrnor har passerat denna byggnad under de senaste 10 Ären, sÄ för att lÀra kÀnna nya och uppdatera sig pÄ vad de som för nÀrvarande jobbar hÀr, tog nÄgra av oss jubileet som ett tillfÀlle att presentera vÄra grupper för varandra. Det finns inget bÀttre Àn en promenad genom vÄr mÄngsidiga arbetsplats, efterföljt av en mycket god fika!

PÄ tal om fika: fluglarven hade sin egen version av svenskt fika, tvÄ lÄdor innehÄllande 10 000 larver vardera matades med (vegetarisk) hamburgare och rulltÄrta och vÄra kollegor kunde rösta pÄ menti.com vilken av de tvÄ mÄltiderna som skulle gÄ Ät först! Det var en jÀmn kamp, men till slut föredrog larven helt klart rulltÄrtan! Vem kan sÀga nej till lite lÀttillgÀngliga kolhydrater pÄ vintern!