Acronym
RENU2FARM
Code
41H05617W
Duration
20 September 2017 → 31 March 2023
Funding
European funding: various
Promotor
Research disciplines
-
Engineering and technology
- General chemical and biochemical engineering not elsewhere classified
Keywords
nutrient recycling
Project description
The ReNu2Farm project is designed to increase the recycling rates for the plant nutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in the primary food production chain in Northwest Europe (NWE). Up to now, farmers have essentially been using mineral fertilisers, for which the EU is heavily dependent on imports. Moreover, the production of mineral fertiliser requires large amounts of energy. Paradoxically, however, there are several regions with a nutrient surplus in NWE. There are also technologies for recovering those nutrients, but until now they have remained little-used by farmers.
Role of Ghent University
The Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Ecochemistry (UGhent-Ecochem) will take part in the three work packages (WP) of the ReNu2Farm project. The WP1 is led by UGhent-Ecochem and it focuses on production and logistics of recycling-derived fertilizers by implementing nutrient recovery vis-à-vis desired end-user requirements. The role of UGhent-Ecochem in WP1 is to perform process flow analysis of production chains put in place for nutrient recovery from wastes as well as in product characterization and quality assessment of recovered nutrients in WP1. The WP2 is focused on agro-ecological assessment of recycling-derived fertilizers. In this WP, the UGhent-Ecochem will carry out an environmental risk assessment in terms of nutrient balances and CO2 footprint in cooperation with Inagro. The WP3 aims to develop a market introduction strategy by analyzing market structure and current legal framework. As a coordinator of Biorefine Cluster Europe, the UGhent-Ecochem has an extensive network of institutes, companies, administrations and CSOs concerned in nutrient recovery and recycling. This network will be used while analyzing legislative framework conditions and holding stakeholder workshops with policy makers, which are UGhent-Ecochem tasks in WP3.