Electric poop

I'm glad I have your attention, because I'd like to tell you about something very cool that just happened at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. A team led by scientists at the university has officially produced a cutting-edge way to extract certain nutrients (most importantly, ammonium and potassium) from livestock manure to be used in applications like fertilizer and other chemical products.

Manure itself can be used as-is to fertilize the garden, but it has some drawbacks. First, it is expensive when compared with other commonly used fertilizing products. Adding to the gap in cost is the fact that manure also contains fewer nutrients than synthetic fertilizers, so it must be applied in larger quantities to support plant growth. Second, manure doesn't smell great to begin with and as it decomposes the odor somehow gets even worse. The strong smell can also attract flies and hungry rodents, which are unwelcome visitors in most gardens. Third and finally, although manure is an organic fertilizer, it can be damaging to the environment, releasing ammonia, phosphorus, and potassium into groundwater and ammonia into the air. Airborne ammonia is smelly, and can cause breathing issues in sensitive people. In the ground, nutrient excesses can contaminate local water sources and if they flow into the ocean, can kill fish and cause damaging algae blooms.

The goal for this team was to find a way to extract the useful nutrients from manure that make it such a valuable fertilizer. The new technique was revealed to the scientific world less than a week ago in the journal Nature Sustainability, and already has caught the attention of many gardeners. The procedure described in the study involves directly placing a nickel-based electrode into manure wastewater, which then collects ammonium and potassium from the oxidized organic matter. The electrode is then placed in a device that uses electricity to release the ammonium and potassium from the electrode. The extracted nutrients can be used to create nitrogen or potassium-based fertilizers that are greener and more affordable to transport than manure.

A very cool discovery in and of itself, this breakthrough also has the potential to lower ammonia emissions by 50% and lessen nitrate leaching considerably from livestock farms. And in the long-run, maybe we'll have cheaper, more effective and greener ways to use manure as a fertilizing agent. It just goes to show, the trick to tackling climate change is to electrify everything. Even poop.

​Until next time!

References:
Zapping Manure with Special Electrode Promises an Efficient Method to Produce Fertilizers, Other Chemicals