IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/circec/v1y2021i3d10.1007_s43615-021-00081-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Potential Nutrient Conversion Using Nature-Based Solutions in Cities and Utilization Concepts to Create Circular Urban Food Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Wirth

    (alchemia-nova GmbH)

  • Tamara Vobruba

    (alchemia-nova GmbH)

  • Marco Hartl

    (alchemia-nova GmbH)

  • Johannes Kisser

    (alchemia-nova GmbH)

Abstract

The present food system is characterized by a linear flow of resources from rural areas into cities, where most food is consumed and essential nutrients discharged as wastewater. Limited water and phosphorus resources and large carbon footprints of chemical fertilizers drive increased recovery of water and nutrients for reuse in agriculture. Alongside end-of-pipe technologies at conventional wastewater treatment plants, nature-based solutions provide a robust and low-energy alternative solution. This paper assesses the potential of treatment processes using NBS to close water and nutrient cycles in the urban food system. A Substance Flow Analysis approach is used to quantify the recoverable urban nutrient (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) budget contained in household wastewater and biodegradable kitchen waste, using the city of Vienna, Austria, as an example. The developed model reflects the metabolization of water and nutrients by treatment wetlands and biogas digesters into fertigation water and fertilizer. It differentiates between specific crop nutrient requirements and yields, and by greenhouse and outdoor farming conditions in a temperate climate. Results indicate that, using NBS, the wastewater and kitchen waste from 77,250 persons could fully cover the nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer demand of the entire vegetable production in Vienna, which currently supplies one-third of Vienna’s vegetable consumption. Additional people connected to the system can supply significant excess nutrients to produce other crops within and beyond the city. The model can inform selection and design of NBS for nutrient recovery and reuse, and support integrated planning regarding use of secondary nutrient sources and optimization of secondary nutrient utilization. Graphical Abstract

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Wirth & Tamara Vobruba & Marco Hartl & Johannes Kisser, 2021. "Potential Nutrient Conversion Using Nature-Based Solutions in Cities and Utilization Concepts to Create Circular Urban Food Systems," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 1147-1164, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:circec:v:1:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s43615-021-00081-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s43615-021-00081-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s43615-021-00081-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s43615-021-00081-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Elser & Elena Bennett, 2011. "A broken biogeochemical cycle," Nature, Nature, vol. 478(7367), pages 29-31, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Maria A. Barrufet & Elena M. Castell-Perez & Rosana G. Moreira, 2022. "Capture of CO2 and Water While Driving for Use in the Food and Agricultural Systems," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1241-1252, September.
    2. Sarah N. Gatson & Marissa Cisneros & Robert Brown & Jacqueline A. Aitkenhead-Peterson & Yu Yvette Zhang, 2022. "Urban Networks, Micro-agriculture, and Community Food Security," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1253-1265, September.
    3. Ryan Cronin & Anthony Halog, 2022. "A Unique Perspective of Materials, Practices and Structures Within the Food, Energy and Water Nexus of Australian Urban Alternative Food Networks," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 327-349, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Qiming Wang & Tao Zhang & Xinyue He & Rongfeng Jiang, 2017. "Assessment of Phosphorus Recovery from Swine Wastewater in Beijing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    2. James J Elser & Timothy J Elser & Stephen R Carpenter & William A Brock, 2014. "Regime Shift in Fertilizer Commodities Indicates More Turbulence Ahead for Food Security," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-7, May.
    3. Deb Raj Aryal & Danilo Enrique Morales Ruiz & César Noé Tondopó Marroquín & René Pinto Ruiz & Francisco Guevara Hernández & José Apolonio Venegas Venegas & Alejandro Ponce Mendoza & Gilberto Villanuev, 2018. "Soil Organic Carbon Depletion from Forests to Grasslands Conversion in Mexico: A Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-15, November.
    4. Jean‐Baptiste E. Thomas & Rajib Sinha & Åsa Strand & Tore Söderqvist & Johanna Stadmark & Frida Franzén & Ida Ingmansson & Fredrik Gröndahl & Linus Hasselström, 2022. "Marine biomass for a circular blue‐green bioeconomy? A life cycle perspective on closing nitrogen and phosphorus land‐marine loops," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(6), pages 2136-2153, December.
    5. Olagunju, Kehinde Oluseyi & Feng, Siyi & Patton, Myles, 2021. "Dynamic relationships among phosphate rock, fertilisers and agricultural commodity markets: Evidence from a vector error correction model and Directed Acyclic Graphs," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Chowdhury, Rubel Biswas & Moore, Graham A. & Weatherley, Anthony J. & Arora, Meenakshi, 2014. "A review of recent substance flow analyses of phosphorus to identify priority management areas at different geographical scales," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 213-228.
    7. Zhe Wang & Shuai Guan & Yajuan Wang & Wen Li & Ke Shi & Jiake Li & Zhiqiang Xu, 2022. "High Purity Struvite Recovery from Hydrothermally-Treated Sludge Supernatant Using Magnetic Zirconia Adsorbent," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-16, October.
    8. Elizabeth Webeck & Kazuyo Matsubae & Tetsuya Nagasaka, 2015. "Phosphorus requirements for the changing diets of China, India and Japan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(3), pages 455-469, July.
    9. Matthew Heron Wilson & Sarah Taylor Lovell, 2016. "Agroforestry—The Next Step in Sustainable and Resilient Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Liu, Caixia & Rubæk, Gitte H. & Liu, Fulai & Andersen, Mathias N., 2015. "Effect of partial root zone drying and deficit irrigation on nitrogen and phosphorus uptake in potato," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 66-76.
    11. Senthilkumar, Kalimuthu & Mollier, Alain & Delmas, Magalie & Pellerin, Sylvain & Nesme, Thomas, 2014. "Phosphorus recovery and recycling from waste: An appraisal based on a French case study," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 97-108.
    12. M. L. Wolfe & K. C. Ting & N. Scott & A. Sharpley & J. W. Jones & L. Verma, 2016. "Engineering solutions for food-energy-water systems: it is more than engineering," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 6(1), pages 172-182, March.
    13. Leandro Israel da Silva & Marlon Correa Pereira & André Mundstock Xavier de Carvalho & Victor Hugo Buttrós & Moacir Pasqual & Joyce Dória, 2023. "Phosphorus-Solubilizing Microorganisms: A Key to Sustainable Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-30, February.
    14. Matsubae, Kazuyo & Webeck, Elizabeth & Nansai, Keisuke & Nakajima, Kenichi & Tanaka, Mikiya & Nagasaka, Tetsuya, 2015. "Hidden phosphorus flows related with non-agriculture industrial activities: A focus on steelmaking and metal surface treatment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 105(PB), pages 360-367.
    15. Carraresi, Laura & Berg, Silvan & Bröring, Stefanie, 2016. "Emerging value chains within the bio-economy: structural changes in the case of phosphate recovery," 149th Seminar, October 27-28, 2016, Rennes, France 244788, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Daniel Magnone & Vahid J. Niasar & Alexander F. Bouwman & Arthur H. W. Beusen & Sjoerd E. A. T. M. Zee & Sheida Z. Sattari, 2022. "The impact of phosphorus on projected Sub-Saharan Africa food security futures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Andrea E. Ulrich & Ewald Schnug, 2013. "The Modern Phosphorus Sustainability Movement: A Profiling Experiment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-23, October.
    18. Emily Burchfield & Neil Matthews-Pennanen & Justin Schoof & Christopher Lant, 2020. "Changing yields in the Central United States under climate and technological change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 159(3), pages 329-346, April.
    19. Walan, Petter & Davidsson, Simon & Johansson, Sheshti & Höök, Mikael, 2014. "Phosphate rock production and depletion: Regional disaggregated modeling and global implications," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 178-187.
    20. Rosanne Wielemaker & John Stuiver & Grietje Zeeman & Jan Weijma, 2020. "Identifying Amsterdam's nutrient hotspots: A new method to map human excreta at building and neighborhood scale," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(3), pages 473-484, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:circec:v:1:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1007_s43615-021-00081-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.