Human liquid bio-waste, as an alternative source of fertilizer in urban indoor agriculture : analysis of Swiss chard growth in vertical farming system
Ashraf, Fuad (2020)
2020
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020110422230
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020110422230
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this thesis was to determine whether human urine in the form of urine concentrate has the potential to replace chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. This was done by growing swiss chard plant in a vertical farming system. The role of biochar was also studied to compare the difference in growth if mixed with the growing substrate.
This study was carried out as a research project between Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Evergreen Farm Oy company. It was funded by The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland. The project was executed in a vertical farming system called Grow360™ in the premises of the company. The system has 15 vertical cylinders, each containing 144 buckets for plants totaling up to 2160 plants which acquires an area of 9 m2 with 2.5 m height. This system was installed and customized according to the project specifications with 8 different combinations of nutrition treatments. Quantitative data were collected in the monitoring phase of swiss chard growth for 10 weeks after sowing until harvesting and was analyzed and compared for growth results.
The results showed that the plants treated with urine concentrate had slow growth in the start compared with the ones treated with chemical fertilizers. However, by the end of growth week 10 they grew more in length. The average growth of urine concentrate treated plants were 21.72 cm and chemical fertilizer treated plants were 20.85 cm. It was found out that treatments with lower nitrogen concentration with 100 mg/L yielded better growth than higher nitrogen concentration with 150 mg/L. The results also showed that plants with biochar mixed in the medium had better growth than the plants with only peat as a growing media.
The findings indicated that the urine concentrate with the lower nitrogen level has the potential as an alternative to the conventional chemical fertilizer used in agriculture. Biochar addition to the growing substrate yields better growth and produce. The Grow360™ unit was a prototype system with limited automation and lower technology readiness level. It would be recommendable to con-duct similar research in a completed system with full automation. Furthermore, other growing factors like soil pH, electrical conductivity and manpower for sowing and harvesting is to be well planned before the project’s execution for more synchronized, comparable and reliable results.
This study was carried out as a research project between Tampere University of Applied Sciences and Evergreen Farm Oy company. It was funded by The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland. The project was executed in a vertical farming system called Grow360™ in the premises of the company. The system has 15 vertical cylinders, each containing 144 buckets for plants totaling up to 2160 plants which acquires an area of 9 m2 with 2.5 m height. This system was installed and customized according to the project specifications with 8 different combinations of nutrition treatments. Quantitative data were collected in the monitoring phase of swiss chard growth for 10 weeks after sowing until harvesting and was analyzed and compared for growth results.
The results showed that the plants treated with urine concentrate had slow growth in the start compared with the ones treated with chemical fertilizers. However, by the end of growth week 10 they grew more in length. The average growth of urine concentrate treated plants were 21.72 cm and chemical fertilizer treated plants were 20.85 cm. It was found out that treatments with lower nitrogen concentration with 100 mg/L yielded better growth than higher nitrogen concentration with 150 mg/L. The results also showed that plants with biochar mixed in the medium had better growth than the plants with only peat as a growing media.
The findings indicated that the urine concentrate with the lower nitrogen level has the potential as an alternative to the conventional chemical fertilizer used in agriculture. Biochar addition to the growing substrate yields better growth and produce. The Grow360™ unit was a prototype system with limited automation and lower technology readiness level. It would be recommendable to con-duct similar research in a completed system with full automation. Furthermore, other growing factors like soil pH, electrical conductivity and manpower for sowing and harvesting is to be well planned before the project’s execution for more synchronized, comparable and reliable results.