A Practical Case Report on the Node Point of a Butterfly Model Circular Economy: Synthesis of a New Hybrid Mineral–Hydrothermal Fertilizer for Rice Cropping

Mei-Yun Chang and Wu-Jang Huang
Additional contact information
Mei-Yun Chang: Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, National Ping-Tung University of Science and Technology, Ping-Tung County 912, Taiwan
Wu-Jang Huang: Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, National Ping-Tung University of Science and Technology, Ping-Tung County 912, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-7

Abstract: With the increased importance of a circular economy in the world, in this paper we present a practical “butterfly model” (proposed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation) case report: to gain extra benefits in rice cropping through hybridizing green products of mineral waste and agricultural waste recycling. Hydrothermal biorefinery was used to turn spent agricultural biomass into a value-added biomass nutrient solution (BNS). BNS and sericite mineral waste were mixed and used as a new hybrid mineral–hydrothermal fertilizer for rice cropping. The most important extra benefit of this new hybrid mineral–hydrothermal fertilizer was that the empty grains could be reduced to 1–4 grains/spike (normally, it is 12–18 grains/spike), without significantly decreasing the panicle weight or spike saturation. This case report provides a new logic for circular design at the “node” point of a butterfly diagram.

Keywords: butterfly model; circular economy; agricultural waste; mineral waste (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1245/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/3/1245/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:1245-:d:318417

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().