As you know, the main objective of the LIFE INFUSION project is to find alternatives to dumping the liquid fraction of the organic waste treatment, using the valuable resources still present in this waste effluent: nutrients, energy and recovered water.

Regarding nutrients, recently the research institute IRTA has started the agronomic trials of the project to test if the fertilizers and the recovered water produced in the demosite in Barcelona have similar or even better properties compared with the conventional alternatives.

To start, IRTA tested in their facilities in Cabrils (Spain) the sanitized and stabilized extract from the thermophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor (tAnMBR). This effluent is rich in nitrogen and organic matter and therefore potentially good to be used as fertilizer.

To develop the tests, lettuce and asteriscus, an ornamental plant, were grown in different conditions:

• Using the purge as fertilizer
• Using a conventional fertilizer
• Not using fertilizers

The concentration of effluent used in the growing has been limited due to the relatively high presence of ammonium and salinity in the effluent, but it is expected that the quantity could be increased early with the optimization of the pilot plant operation.

Although it is still early to analyse results and obtain conclusions, it is a good start to see that the purge as fertilizer has achieved better results in growing than not using fertilizers, as expected, and even comparable results than using conventional fertilizers.