Periodic Reporting for period 3 - B-FERST (Bio-based FERtilising products as the best practice for agricultural management SusTainability)
Reporting period: 2022-05-01 to 2023-10-31
Sustainable agriculture meets present society’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Agricultural stakeholders must seek to integrate key priorities into their regular activity: healthy environment; economic profitability; social engagement, and; cost-effective products. All this entails to overcome the challenges identified by the Bioeconomy Strategy to achieve productivity increases while ensuring sustainable resource and alleviating stress on the environment. In line with these priorities, through the European Circular Economy Package. The EU aims to promote sustainability achieving better and new European biomass sources and sustainable supply chains through the enhancement of relationship between farmers and bio-based industries. A new approach to face the challenge must involve the creation of green value chains to improve the overall sustainability while optimising links between agriculture stakeholders and other industries.
For this purpose, the fertiliser industry has a role as supplier of renewable nutrients. Specialised nutrients must be provided by tailor-made dosing adapted to farmer needs. Moreover, the fertiliser industry is a relevant stakeholder, which has the infrastructure to ensure the mobilisation of under-used and unused streams from the farming sector and from other industries. Thus, both stakeholders play essential roles in sustainable agricultural management strategy.
B-FERST’s main objective is to integrate the valorisation of bio-wastes in agriculture management plans creating new circular and bio-based value chains from bio-waste, municipal waste management, agri-food industries to fertiliser value chain, considering a bilateral interaction between farming and fertiliser sectors.
For this purpose, the fertiliser industry has a role as supplier of renewable nutrients. Specialised nutrients must be provided by tailor-made dosing adapted to farmer needs. Moreover, the fertiliser industry is a relevant stakeholder, which has the infrastructure to ensure the mobilisation of under-used and unused streams from the farming sector and from other industries. Thus, both stakeholders play essential roles in sustainable agricultural management strategy.
B-FERST’s main objective is to integrate the valorisation of bio-wastes in agriculture management plans creating new circular and bio-based value chains from bio-waste, municipal waste management, agri-food industries to fertiliser value chain, considering a bilateral interaction between farming and fertiliser sectors.
The project began in 2019, the coordinator is FERTIBERIA, leader in the production of fertilizers for agriculture and industrial chemicals. The rest of the consortium is made by eleven European partners: University of Leon. FCC Aqualia and Agrisat (Spain), Novamont and Fondazione iCons (Italy), FKUR KUNSTSTOFF (Germany), Vito and Arcadia (Belgium), AG Futura Technologies (North Macedonia), Instytut Uprawy Nawozenia i Gleboznawstwa (Poland).
The nutrient recovery process has been validated in order to obtain P-precipitated salt from ashes. The specific combination of recycled nutrients to form the 8 designed biobased enhanced fertilisers has been technically demonstrated at pilot scale. These products were applied in the agronomic field trials. This fact will help to finally validate the claimed promising biobased fertilisers and additives.
The mapping of the potential sources of raw materials has been carried out in 8 different European countries. Samples have been requested in these countries for analysis. As a result of the analysis, it has been possible to identify inappropriate sources for the materials, allowing a more specific search, as well as the basis for the development of the final logistic model.
The use of Microbial Plant Bioestimulants (MPB) and Non Microbial Plant Biostimulants (NMPB) eventually reduces the use of fertilisers inputs as the mechanisms of the plant and soil will improve the availability of nutrients on it. The results so far are that fertilisers made with biobased materials could include less percentage of water-soluble nutrients than the usual commercial fertilisers. Novel NMPBs (from cardoon meal) and MPBs, as well as biodegradable waxes have been developed and selected for their application at demo scale. Their optimised physical and chemical properties have been the basis for the equipment development in demo plants.
Moreover, the use of biopolymers could reduce the release time of the nutrients in the fertilisers and also protect the MPB applied in the fertiliser surface. In this sense, all coatings that have been selected are biodegradable.
The Basic and Detailed Engineering Package of both the Nutrient Extraction demo plant and Coating Demo Plant have already been developed.
The initial aim of optimization of the business model based on the characteristics of the fertilisers market and industry focused on three market segments (EU-28, Western Balkans and New Independent States) is slightly adapted to the current insights provided by the secondary analysis.
In relation to the legislation about these new fertilizers the new EU Regulation (EU 2019/1009) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products includes new provisions aiming at harmonising the conditions for making fertilising products available on the internal market.
The environmental impact of production (cradle-to-gate, per tonne produced fertiliser with NPK composition 10-10-10) for all B-Ferst fertilisers and the conventional fertiliser has been determined in a preliminary assessment. The preliminary results show reductions in carbon footprint (compared to the conventional fertiliser) ranging from approximately 8% to 40%, depending on the fertiliser. Regarding the social LCA an important part in the goal and scope definition of a social LCA is the materiality assessment.
The nutrient recovery process has been validated in order to obtain P-precipitated salt from ashes. The specific combination of recycled nutrients to form the 8 designed biobased enhanced fertilisers has been technically demonstrated at pilot scale. These products were applied in the agronomic field trials. This fact will help to finally validate the claimed promising biobased fertilisers and additives.
The mapping of the potential sources of raw materials has been carried out in 8 different European countries. Samples have been requested in these countries for analysis. As a result of the analysis, it has been possible to identify inappropriate sources for the materials, allowing a more specific search, as well as the basis for the development of the final logistic model.
The use of Microbial Plant Bioestimulants (MPB) and Non Microbial Plant Biostimulants (NMPB) eventually reduces the use of fertilisers inputs as the mechanisms of the plant and soil will improve the availability of nutrients on it. The results so far are that fertilisers made with biobased materials could include less percentage of water-soluble nutrients than the usual commercial fertilisers. Novel NMPBs (from cardoon meal) and MPBs, as well as biodegradable waxes have been developed and selected for their application at demo scale. Their optimised physical and chemical properties have been the basis for the equipment development in demo plants.
Moreover, the use of biopolymers could reduce the release time of the nutrients in the fertilisers and also protect the MPB applied in the fertiliser surface. In this sense, all coatings that have been selected are biodegradable.
The Basic and Detailed Engineering Package of both the Nutrient Extraction demo plant and Coating Demo Plant have already been developed.
The initial aim of optimization of the business model based on the characteristics of the fertilisers market and industry focused on three market segments (EU-28, Western Balkans and New Independent States) is slightly adapted to the current insights provided by the secondary analysis.
In relation to the legislation about these new fertilizers the new EU Regulation (EU 2019/1009) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 laying down rules on the making available on the market of EU fertilising products includes new provisions aiming at harmonising the conditions for making fertilising products available on the internal market.
The environmental impact of production (cradle-to-gate, per tonne produced fertiliser with NPK composition 10-10-10) for all B-Ferst fertilisers and the conventional fertiliser has been determined in a preliminary assessment. The preliminary results show reductions in carbon footprint (compared to the conventional fertiliser) ranging from approximately 8% to 40%, depending on the fertiliser. Regarding the social LCA an important part in the goal and scope definition of a social LCA is the materiality assessment.
The novel Nutrient Recovery Process has been optimised with ashes from WWTP that belong to the data base. The required documentation (engineering packages) for its implementation at demo scale have been done. Biobased materials from different sources, chemical and physical properties and proportions have been incorporated in the fertiliser process at pilot plant, both in the granulation stage and in the coating stage. These prototypes constitute a new family of biobased fertilisers with biobased raw materials and biobased coatings (biostimulants and biowaxes).
An oil crop seed crushing plant has been tested by optimizing process conditions on a tonne scale, achieving an oil cake recovery of around 96-99% with very low losses.An innovative reactor has been designed and built to obtain biostimulant mixtures (NMBP). Testing has revealed optimal reproducibility from pilot to demo scale.
B-FERST will create new cross-sector interconnections between the different sectors and stakeholders involved in the whole value chain: Agri-food industry – Fertiliser manufacturer, Fertiliser manufacturer – Farmers, Biostimulant producer (MPB) - Fertiliser manufacturer, WWTP - Fertiliser manufacturer, OWPP - Fertiliser manufacturer, Plastics industry - Fertiliser manufacturer, ICT sector – Farmer / Fertiliser manufacturer.
B-FERST project proposes the creation of at least three new bio-based value chains by integrating technologies and creating additional interconnections and synergies between traditional agriculture stakeholders and new ones with other industries (e.g. WWTP or OWPP).
New fertilising products will ensure and maintain sustainability of the soil-plants system, while being environmentally friendly and without adverse public health issues and meeting current and proposed regulations and standards. Additionally, they will be economically viable.
A detailed consequential LCA will be performed in B-FERST, in which these effects will be considered. Moreover, this LCA will look at the complete life cycle of the fertilisers, considering differences in performance at field.
An oil crop seed crushing plant has been tested by optimizing process conditions on a tonne scale, achieving an oil cake recovery of around 96-99% with very low losses.An innovative reactor has been designed and built to obtain biostimulant mixtures (NMBP). Testing has revealed optimal reproducibility from pilot to demo scale.
B-FERST will create new cross-sector interconnections between the different sectors and stakeholders involved in the whole value chain: Agri-food industry – Fertiliser manufacturer, Fertiliser manufacturer – Farmers, Biostimulant producer (MPB) - Fertiliser manufacturer, WWTP - Fertiliser manufacturer, OWPP - Fertiliser manufacturer, Plastics industry - Fertiliser manufacturer, ICT sector – Farmer / Fertiliser manufacturer.
B-FERST project proposes the creation of at least three new bio-based value chains by integrating technologies and creating additional interconnections and synergies between traditional agriculture stakeholders and new ones with other industries (e.g. WWTP or OWPP).
New fertilising products will ensure and maintain sustainability of the soil-plants system, while being environmentally friendly and without adverse public health issues and meeting current and proposed regulations and standards. Additionally, they will be economically viable.
A detailed consequential LCA will be performed in B-FERST, in which these effects will be considered. Moreover, this LCA will look at the complete life cycle of the fertilisers, considering differences in performance at field.