Biochar From Human Waste Could Solve Global Fertilizer Shortages, Study Finds (theguardian.com) 34
Biochar produced from solid human excrement could supply up to 7% of global phosphorus fertilizer needs annually, according to a Cornell University study published in PNAS. When combined with nutrients extracted from urine, the process could provide 15% of phosphorus, 17% of nitrogen, and 25% of potassium used in agriculture worldwide.
The biochar production process reduces solid waste volume and weight by up to 90%, while allowing nutrient proportions to be adjusted for specific crop requirements.
The biochar production process reduces solid waste volume and weight by up to 90%, while allowing nutrient proportions to be adjusted for specific crop requirements.
So, you're saying it's made from hot shit? (Score:2)
I think they might owe some royalties to Nelly. [youtu.be]
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Interesting (Score:3)
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Re:Interesting (Score:5, Informative)
When you're making biochar, you try to avoid belching much exhaust into the environment; you want to convert your input into charcoal, not turn it into CO2. So things like plastics and pharmaceuticals get charred and rearranged more than turned into smoke. And in any case, coal has taught us to be very good at cleaning particulates out of smoke.
As other people have mentioned, heavy metals can be a problem when biocharring landfill waste; they're not likely to occur much in sewage, though.
Finally! What do you think happens to human waste now? As of 2013, in the US, more than half was treated and used as fertilizer; most of the rest was landfilled. (For some reason, we have mostly decided "just dump it in a nearby body of water" is a bad plan.) Both of these methods happily release microplastics and pharmaceuticals into the environment. Plus, if processors are... less-than-scrupulous... about treatment, it can be a source of disease outbreaks.
Anyhow: We need to do something with all the human waste we create. Turning it into biochar is, on balance, probably better than anything else we can do with it. It's non-infectious, not smelly, gives us a useful end product, and greatly reduces the amount of undesirable other stuff in the mix.
Pharmaceuticals and plastics aren't the problem (Score:1)
The problem is various pathogens. So it's not really usable in the food supply. You can use it on lawns after some treatment but that's about it.
You could possibly treat it to deal with the pathogens but the problem with that is the same problem we always have which is that the treatment is expensive so you either have a product that can't compete or somebody starts cutting corners on the treatments and people start getting sick.
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Raw sewage is the fertilizer of choice in Korea. Apparently there is a Korean farmer's almanac that says the right day, and they all go out and burn the rice paddies, toss the shit on them and then fill with water.
The smell is like nothing else I have ever experienced. I kept being over there for that day in the early spring, year after year.
One of the harvesting methodologies is via porta-potties. In the US they'd fill them with that blue chemical substance to kill the smell. But in Korea, the feces and
Re:Pharmaceuticals and plastics aren't the problem (Score:5, Interesting)
>"The problem is various pathogens. So it's not really usable in the food supply. You can use it on lawns after some treatment but that's about it."
Biochar is free of live pathogens because it is charcoal. It is designed for food-crop usage. That is the point of biochar, that it removes the risk compared to trying to use "treated sewerage sludge" that does contain microplastics, heavy metals, Pfas forever chemicals, pathogens, and pharmaceuticals (all of which the biochar process destroys).
>"that the treatment is expensive so you either have a product that can't compete"
The biochar process does sound very energy-intensive, thus, expensive. The article talks nothing about cost, which seems intentional.
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>"(all of which the biochar process destroys)."
Reply to self. I don't think it would destroy heavy metals, though.
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>"(all of which the biochar process destroys)."
Reply to self. I don't think it would destroy heavy metals, though.
This is the one thing that puzzled me. Biochar is used to adsorb heavy metals out of things.
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The biochar process does sound very energy-intensive, thus, expensive. The article talks nothing about cost, which seems intentional.
At one point I read an analysis (I can't find it now, alas) that figured the biocharring process releases enough heat that it's approximately break-even with sewage, even once you account for water evaporation. I'm not sure if that was purely for biosolids (even after separation, they're pretty wet solids), or if it included liquid processing as well.
Another place these plants could make a lot of sense at is livestock farms. I know that at dairies, "where can we put all this cow poop?" is a fairly major ong
One step closer... (Score:4, Insightful)
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I knew this would eventually happen (Score:2)
Our sewage system is not designed for this (Score:2)
Sewage systems are on of the greatest advances of society, unfortunately it has made recovery of good quality humanure impossible. It's all polluted, by a little, but a little adds up when you cycle things.
Viable? (Score:2)
Another issue is that collecting human urine prior to wastewater dilution isn't really
Why no animal waste (Score:2)
Ridiculous amounts of animal waste is not taken care of, and let to rot and produce greenhouse gases.
I'd think that would be low-hanging fruit to take care of first.
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Yes, and "all" you have to do to manage it is put it in a bag. As in one of those bags they use as water "tanks". And then you use a membrane to separate the methane, and flare off the other gases. Let it sit for just a few months and it becomes harmless (the pathogens are destroyed by the heat of decomposition) and valuable fertilizer.
Obviously this is only practical in feedlots and similar, but there's a lot of waste from those which is currently put into a holding pool and then flushed into a waterway af
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Humanure is the best shit for growing food
animal manure not being used, its just crazy. the whole system is rife with countless inefficiencies which could be fixed overnight; just how long would it actually take to replant 6 trillion trees, easily done by this time next decade
Echoes of Milorganite (Score:3)
India already doing it (Score:2)
PNAS says Poo Potassium Possible (Score:2)
If Matt Damon could grow potatoes on Mars... (Score:2)
...then why not try it on Earth?
Build compost piles (Score:2)
Milorganite (Score:2)
Milorganite has been around for decades and is a human wastewater solids fertilizer product that is very popular for turf fertilization. "Smells like success", after you apply and it gets a little wet, as the lawn community would say.
This seems like an obvious progression to not let this material go to "waste".
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In Austin we call it Dillo Dirt.
I have a better idea (Score:1)
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