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.

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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!

MVM 10 year jublee

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Last week our main building MVM, which contains our offices and laboratories, turned 10 and we all celebrated together! Many bright brains have entered and left this building in the past 10 years, so to catch up with the current staff, some of us took the celebration as an opportunity to present their group to our fellow colleagues. Nothing better than a stroll through our diverse work place, with Fika and coffee afterwards!

Speaking of Fika: The fly larva had their own version of Swedish Fika, two boxes containing 10.000 larva each were fed (vegetarian) hamburgers and cake and our colleagues could vote on menti.com which of the two meals would be gone first! It was a tight race but in the end the larva clearly preferred the cake! Who can say no to some easily available carbs in winter!

Who cares about toilets?

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Check out the article we wrote with SLU Global for World Toilet Day.

Today is World Toilet Day. According to WHO and UNICEF around four billion people in the world does not have access to a safely managed sanitation service. Untreated wastewater released to the environment can contaminate drinking-water sources, rivers, beaches and food crops, spreading deadly diseases among the wider population. This is rather unfortunate because source-separated wastewater fractions like human urine and faeces are renewable resources from which water, nutrients and energy can be recovered and safely recycled and used as a fertiliser. So SLU cares!

In the wastewater that comes out of a household, human urine makes up just 1% of total volume. However, in terms of nutrients, urine contains more than 80% of the nitrogen and over half of the potassium and the phosphorus. In fact, urine produced by people worldwide contains enough nutrients to fertilise three-quarters of the food we eat.

Earlier this year, Dr. Prithvi Simha from the Department of Energy and Technology at SLU, defended his thesis, which developed a novel on-site sanitation technology called “alkaline urine dehydration” to capture all the nutrients in urine without its water. Prithvi and his team at SLU are working to disrupt the way we manage wastewater and design sanitation systems. They believe that resources like urine should be separately collected, safely treated to produce fertilisers, and returned to farmland to close the nutrient loop in our food system. If implemented globally, such a system could reduce the transgression of the planetary boundary for nitrogen and phosphorus by 35% and 25%, respectively.

Continue reading Who cares about toilets?

Talk at the Baltic Sea Science Center in Stockholm

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Last week on 15th of November, Jenna Senecal and Anastasija Vasiljev gave a talk on urine research at the Baltic Sea Science Center in Stockholm. The topic of discussion was “From Fork to Farm and from Farm to Fork. How toilets are a part of this cycle”. The audience consisted of around 20 high school teachers.

Together with another lecture done by Stockholm Vatten och Avfall, we felt that we made quite an impact and we hope that the teachers will feel inspired to share our technologies with their students.

If you want to know more about the Baltic Sea Science Center and what they do, click here.

And to see what SLU is doing regarding the center, click here.

Happy World Toilet Day!

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Today is all about toilets! Can you imagine how your life would be without one? They are a part of our lives so much, that we don’t even think about their existence.

Unfortunately, that is not the case for more than 3.6 billion people. They lack access to safe sanitation and their lives without a toilet are dirty, dangerous and undignified. Public health greatly depends on the toilets, as well as the improvements in gender equality, education, economics, and the environment. Our sustainable future cannot happen without them!

Each of us will spend around a year of their lives using a toilet, so if you have one, thank it and give it some love!

If you want to know more about how we can use toilets to create more sustainable future, please free to check out some of our research:

Happy Wold Toilet Day! 

Studiebesök fran Kjell och MÀrta Beijers Stiftelse

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Förra veckan vĂ€lkomnade Cecilia Lalander frĂ„n Kretsloppsteknik besökare frĂ„n Kjell och MĂ€rta Beijers Stiftelsen pĂ„ SLU Campus i Ultuna. I rampljuset var det senaste projekt “5 ton grön fisk i disk” (se blogginlĂ€gg frĂ„n 4 mars https://blogg.slu.se/kretsloppsteknik/2021/03/04/red-containers-at-campus/ ), dĂ€r insektsmjöl tillverkades till fiskfoder pĂ„ Campus Ultuna.

Besöket var ett utmÀrkt tillfÀlle att visa kretsloppsteknik-gruppens starka kompetens och relevans nÀr det gÀller cirkulÀr ekonomi (avfallshantering och foderproduktion). Efter ett snabbt besök skyndande gruppen vidare för att besöka andra forskargruppen och  fÄ en inblick i den breda och viktiga forskning som bedrivs pÄ SLU.

Kjell och MÀrta Beijers Stiftelse bildades 1974 genom en donation frÄn Kjell och MÀrta Beijer. Utöver vetenskaplig forskning och utbildning stödjer stiftelsen kultur, framför allt med anknytning till svensk design och heminredningstradition. Stiftelsen stÄr bland annat bakom Beijerinstitutet, ett av vÀrldens ledande forskningscentrum inom ekologisk ekonomi. Vilken bra dag det var och Cecilia fick mÄnga intressanta frÄgor och nÄgra av besökarna Àven provsmakade till och med vÄra torkade larver!