ALEXANDRIA, VA, May 8, 2014 -- As part of its first project launch under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded National Research Center for Resource Recovery and Nutrient Management, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) will award the University of Michigan with a contract to explore nutrient recovery through urine separation.
This project assumes that with proper treatment, source-separated urine can be a safe, effective and sustainable source for agricultural fertilizer in the United States. The four key objectives of this project are to:
- Provide design and permitting guidelines to address practical issues related to the implementation of urine separation and collection systems in a high-occupancy building
- Understand how urine pre-treatments impact pharmaceutical and biological contaminant concentrations
- Compare the effectiveness of using natural urine and urine-derived products as agricultural fertilizers
- Evaluate the fate of nutrients, pharmaceuticals and biological contaminants once urine products are land applied
Results derived from this research will propel U.S.-based research and innovation in the field of source separation. The research team will also incorporate the first two North American full-scale demonstrations of this emerging technology at the Rich Earth Institute (Vermont) and Hampton Roads Sanitation District (Virginia).
See also:
"Nutrient recovery technology adoption needs change, says new report"
"Waste not want not: The Rise of Resource Recovery"
About WERF
The Water Environment Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization formed in 1989, is America's leading independent scientific research organization dedicated to wastewater and stormwater issues. For more information, visit www.werf.org.
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