The one year meeting was hosted by the wastewater organisation of Helsingborg NSVA, who showed the exiting plans for the new development of central Helsingborg H+ and their visions for sustainable wastewater management in Recolab. The meeting was very fruitful, looking into what was achieved during last year and the planning of the coming year, including trying to fit in field trials of the new wastewater based fertiliser substrates that will be produced in the project. SLU representatives Björn Vinnerås & Annika Nordin.
Ettårsmöte för EU-programmet Run4Life i Helsingborg
Värdarna för ettårsmötet var Helsingborgs VA-organisation NSVA, som bland annat presenterade de spännande planerna för explateringen av det nya området H+ i centrala Helsingborg, inklusive visionerna för ett uthålligare avloppssystem med Recolab. Det var ett givande möte med tillbakablickar på projektets första år samt planeringen av kommande år när vi bland annat skall förbereda odlingsförsök med de olika avloppsbaserade gödselmedlen som produceras inom projektet. SLU representanter Björn Vinnerås & Annika Nordin.
New publication on the drying of ion-exchanged human urine
In a recent study published in Water Research, members of the Kretsloppsteknik group investigated the possibility of alkalising human urine by anion-exchange and dehydrating urine into a dry fertiliser powder.
Fresh urine was passed through an ion-exchanger, stabilised by alkalisation (pH >10), added to an alkaline media (wood ash/alkalised biochar) and dehydrated
Simha, P., Senecal, J., Nordin, A., Lalander, C., Vinnerås, B., 2018. Alkaline dehydration of anion–exchanged human urine: Volume reduction, nutrient recovery and process optimisation, Water Research. In Press. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2018.06.001.
BONUS RETURN annual meeting and regional learning event in Helsinki
Doktorand Solveig Johannesdottir och forskare Jennifer McConville deltog i det årliga mötet för projektet BONUS RETURN I Helsingfors 28-29 maj. De två interna dagarna avslutades med en dag för externa deltagare för kunskapsutbyte och diskussioner kring cirkulär ekonomi den 30e maj. Dagen startades med en presentation om RETURN projektet, följt av presentationer av Akko Karlsson (Kalmar Regional Council), Marcus Svedberg (Senior advisor, Stockholm Sustainable Finance Centre), Eija Hagelberg (Project Director, JÄRKI project, Baltic Sea Action Group) och Marc Klaus (Director, Race For The Baltic). Därefter hölls en paneldiskussion kring ämnet “Hur kan vi möjliggöra cirkulära innovationer för att starta hållbara förändringar i Östersjöregionen?”. Under eftermiddagen fick deltagarna sedan delta i diskussioner i mindre grupper kring ämnena risker och fördelar med cirkulär ekonomi, sociala dimensioner, hur entreprenörskap kan påverka omställningen till cirkulär ekonomi och nätverk för cirkulära innovationer. För mer information om projektet, se bonusreturn.com och kolla in #bonusreturn på Twitter.
The BONUS RETURN partners in Helsinki, the 28th of May. PC: SEI
Workshop on Systematic Review Methods
Solveig Johannesdottir, doctoral candidate in our research group, attended a workshop in Systematic Review Methods in Warszaw 17-18th of May. The workshop was held by Mistra Council for Evidence Based Environmental Management, endorsed by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence. The workshop was led by Neal Haddaway and Biljana Macura, both at the Stockholm Environment Institute. At the workshop, participants got training in planning, organizing and conducting systematic reviews and systematic maps. This method is used in the BONUS RETURN project, where Solveig is systematically mapping the evidence of resource recovery technologies for wastewater. To learn more about the BONUS RETURN project, visit bonusreturn.com.
Steps of the Systematic Review. Source: Neal Haddaway.
Bryts läkemedelsrester i avloppsslam ned under lagring?
Hur mycket läkemedelsrester bryts ned i slam under lagring undersöks i projektet Reduktion av läkemedel och andra organiska miljöföroreningar under lagring/efterbehandling av avloppsslam. Ett storskaligt lagringsförsök med ca 430 ton slam fördelade på 6 olika varianter på slamlagring startade under tisdagen och onsdagen 29-30/5 på Hovgårdens avfallsanläggning i Uppsala samarbete mellan Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet SLU, Svenska Miljöinstitutet IVL och Uppsala Vatten och Avfall AB.
Different conditions for sludge storage: thermophilic compacted sludge for open storage (left), mesophilic compacted sludge for open storage (middle)and mesophilic compacted sludge for covered storage (right). PC: Sahar Dalahmeh
Our fly larvae composting research is featured in a Swedish journal “Forskning & Framsteg”
Cecilia Lalander, the researcher leading fly larvae composting research at the Environmental Engineering group, has been interviewed by Anna Froster for the Swedish popular scientific journal Forskning & Framsteg. The article discusses various issues and achievements around the use of black soldier fly larvae to convert waste to value. Among others, the benefits discussed are that of the sanitization effect of the treatment, the reduction of pharmaceuticals as well as contribution of this waste management strategy towards reaching UNs sustainable development goals. Current issues with method implementation, including the EU legal restrictions, are also lifted in the article.
To read the full article follow this link: https://fof.se/tidning/2018/5/artikel/larverna-fixar-biffen
Ni hao!
Between 4-20th of May, four members of our fly larvae composting team (Cecilia Lalander, Evgheni Ermolaev, Giulio Zorzetto and Viktoria Wiklicky) left their natural habitat in Sweden (desks and greenhouse) and traded it for a temporary new home a bit further east: China.
Their first stop was Fuyang, a city considered “small” by Chinese standards, located in the northwestern Anhui province. For a week, the fly larvae composting team helped a local pig farmer to set up a soldier fly composting system to manage the waste of around 300 pigs and piglets on-site.
Photo: Viktoria Wiklicky, Evgheni Ermolaev
Despite the tight schedule, the team managed to set up a nursery for the black soldier fly hatchlings and a preliminary system to treat the fresh pig manure.
Photo: Evgheni Ermolaev
Questionnaire design and mangement course
Prithvi Simha, Doctoral Candidate in our research group attended a week long course between 14-18 May 2018, in Kaunas, Lithuania. The course was organised by the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University (NOVA) Network and co-ordinated by Prof. Ulf Emanuelson, SLU. The course tackled several key issues regarding the design of questionnaires, respondent psychology, biases, and statistical tools for dealing with missing data/non-response such as multiple imputations. 
Course participants at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences campus, Kaunas. PC: Ulf Emanuelson
Full-scale urine drying trials at SLU
This week, the Environmental Engineering group at SLU starts its full-scale urine drying experiments. The group has designed and built 6 household-scale urine drying prototypes for the experiments. Over the coming months, every day, these units will be drying 24 litres of urine. The biggest challenge so far has been to collect enough daily fresh urine to feed the prototypes. We thank all those who have donated urine so far, and hope that these donating keep coming. Your donations can potentially help revolutionise sanitation!
Urine donation points at toilets across the Department of Energy & Technology, SLU; PhD Candidate Prithvi Simha eager to get the experiments started in our Hygiene Lab