Humankind has grown increasingly dependent on mineral fertilizer to feed a growing
world population. However, nutrients are rarely recovered and recycled after consumption,
leading to environmental waste issues now and potential supply issues in the future.
Urine is rich in these nutrients and is therefore a prime candidate as a precursor
for biobased fertilizers. This work presents a case study to remove potentially present
contaminants from human urine using activated carbon adsorbents to adhere to Dutch
fertilizer legislation. In the urine, three pharmaceuticals were identified by target
analysis and 11 other contaminants by suspect screening using liquid chromatography
quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF/MS). These were successfully
removed by treatments with both granulated and powdered activated carbon, albeit with
a loss of 16–17% and 2–4% of dissolved nutrients, respectively. Further screening
of inorganic contaminants and persistent organic pollutants by inductively coupled
plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gas chromatography quadrupole-Orbitrap mass
spectrometry (GC-Q-Orbitrap/MS) showed that all prerequisites for fertilizer status
are met, paving the way for its future legal use as a biobased fertilizer in the Netherlands.
Keywords
Nutrient recycling - Biobased fertilizer - Activated carbon adsorbent - Pharmaceutical
removal - Fertilizer legislative framework - Target analysis - Suspect screening
Bibliographical Record
S. Beijer, S. Das, R. Helmus, P. Scheer, B. Jansen, J. C. Slootweg. Urine as a Biobased
Fertilizer: The Netherlands as Case Study. Sustainability & Circularity NOW 2024;
01: a23346930.
DOI: 10.1055/a-2334-6930