Fertiliser Effect of Ammonia Recovered from Anaerobically Digested Orange Peel Using Gas-Permeable Membranes

Carmo Horta, Berta Riaño, Ofélia Anjos and María Cruz García-González
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Carmo Horta: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, School of Agriculture, Quinta da Sra. de Mércules, 6001-909 Castelo Branco, Portugal
Berta Riaño: Agricultural Technological Institute of Castilla y Léon. Ctra. Burgos, km. 119, 47071 Valladolid, Spain
Ofélia Anjos: Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, School of Agriculture, Quinta da Sra. de Mércules, 6001-909 Castelo Branco, Portugal
María Cruz García-González: Agricultural Technological Institute of Castilla y Léon. Ctra. Burgos, km. 119, 47071 Valladolid, Spain

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: The manufacture of mineral N fertilisers by the Haber–Bosch process is highly energy-consuming. The nutrient recovery technologies from wastes through low-cost processes will improve the sustainability of the agricultural systems. This work aimed to assess the suitability of the gas-permeable membrane (GPM) technology to recover N from an anaerobic digestate and test the agronomic behaviour of the ammonium sulphate solution (ASS) obtained. About 62% of the total ammonia nitrogen removed from digestate using GPM was recovered, producing an ASS with 14,889 ± 2324 mg N L −1 , which was more than six-fold higher than in digestate. The ASS agronomic behaviour was evaluated by a pot experiment with triticale as a plant test for 34 days in a growth chamber. Compared with the triticale fertilised with the Hoagland solution (Hoag), the ASS provided significantly higher biomass production (+29% dry matter), N uptake (+22%), and higher N agronomic efficiency 3.80 compared with 1.81 mg DM mg −1 N in Hoag, and a nitrogen fertiliser replacement value of 133%. These increases can be due to a biostimulant effect provided by the organic compounds of the ASS as assessed by the FT-Raman spectroscopy. The ASS can be considered a bio-based mineral N fertiliser with a biostimulant effect.

Keywords: bio-based fertiliser; FT-Raman; nitrogen fertiliser replacement value; orange bio-waste; plant biostimulant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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