News
Not such a potty idea!
Method for cleansing waste urine could see it used as a fertiliser
US researchers have demonstrated that biochar, essentially burnt plants, can remove pharmaceuticals from urine waste streams. The findings could help recycle urine into fertilisers.
Human urine is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus - just what plants need. However, human urine can also contain pharmaceuticals, the release of which cause worrying developmental effects in aquatic ecosystems, hampering its use as a fertiliser. While some wastewater treatment plants recover nutrients from urine and wastewater, they do not typically remove pharmaceuticals. Current pharmaceutical removal systems involve membranes, electrodialysis and activated carbon, but they can be costly, energy intensive and unsustainable.
Now, Avni Solanki from the University of Florida and Treavor Boyer from Arizona State University have studied biochar, a precursor to activated carbon, to see if it could work as a viable alternative. Biochar is a cheap porous material produced by burning biomass, such as woods or grasses. Biochar’s functionality and surface charge, which depend on its source as well as the pH and composition of the wastewater, allow it to bind pharmaceuticals through p-p and electrostatic interactions. At high doses, biochar can extract more than 90% of pharmaceuticals from urine, while
removing less than 20% of nitrogen and phosphorus species, with woody-based biochar performing best due to its micropores.
“We wanted to look at a low-cost material that all countries could use [for wastewater management], whether developed or developing,” says Solanki. They were also excited “to see that something this cheap with such a low environmental footprint could actually be applied for pharmaceutical removal and nutrient recovery.”
“The idea and the results are really nice … they show that you can remove so much of the pharmaceuticals without removing much of the nutrients,” comments Hakan Jonsson, an expert in environmental engineering from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. While Mahesh Ganesapillai, an expert in waste management and nutrient recovery from VIT University, India, comments that the work “is a step in the direction of nutrient recovery from human urine, providing experimental results that could help validate urine-diverting sanitation systems”.
BASIS Points for Pitchcare Magazine
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Subscribers can now obtain a further two valuable CPD points for their Professional register, simply by paying for a subscription to the ‘hard copy’ version of the Pitchcare magazine.
Anyone wishing to claim their points should email their full name, BASIS membership number, date of birth and postcode to
editor@pitchcare.com.
*BASIS is an independent standards setting and auditing organisation for the pesticide, fertiliser and allied industries.
PC APRIL/MAY 2017 I 7
WIMBLEDON GRASS COURT SEMINAR
Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th August 2017
The All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon is delighted to announce the return of the Grass Court Seminar which will be led by Head Groundsman, Neil Stubley.
The two-day seminar, to be held on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th August, will feature some of the industry’s top speakers from The Queen’s Club, Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) and others.
The event is aimed at grounds professionals and officials responsible for the maintenance and management of grass tennis courts at clubs, parks and tournament locations.
All practical aspects of grass court preparation, maintenance and renovation will be covered including nutrition, grass seed mixtures, aeration/rolling and research, as well as demonstrations of autumn renovation.
The Seminar was first introduced 25 years ago by the All England Club and has subsequently become part of a structured approach to the development of tennis grounds professionals; a scheme established between the AELTC, LTA and the Institute of Groundsmanship (IoG).
The cost is £140 per person for the two days including lunch, tea and coffee and Seminar Dinner on Wednesday night.
A list of local hotels is available if required. Places are limited, so book now.
For an application form please contact: The Grounds Department at The All England Lawn Tennis Club.
Telephone 020 8971 2639 or email
rcar@aeltc.com
THE ALL ENGLAND LAWN TENNIS & CROQUET CLUB
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