Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Environment: ENEA develops new biofertilizers using volcanic waste
Making new biofertilizers using urban waste, agro-food waste and volcanic ash is the goal of the European project LANDFEED, which ENEA presented at ECOMED, the reference event for Sicily and the Mediterranean in the field of environmental technologies and energy systems. ENEA was present at the Catania fair with a booth (Hall 2 no. 301-303) and a calendar of thematic conferences dedicated to circular economy, industrial symbiosis and water resources. ENEA will develop an industrial symbiosis web platform designed to simplify residue management and facilitate its use in the production of biofertilizers.
“The LANDFEED project aims to respond to this challenge by recovering valuable nutrients from agricultural, forestry, industrial and urban wastes and by-products, thus contributing not only to waste reduction, food security, sustainable agriculture but also to the creation of a European market for biofertilizers, considering that most of these products come from foreign imports,” explained ENEA project contact Antonella Luciano, a researcher at the Laboratory for Tools for Sustainability and Circularity of Production and Territorial Systems.
“In this way, we will be able to coordinate the entire production process, facilitating collaboration and exchange of by-products and waste between companies in an industrial symbiosis approach” Luciano said, “In addition,” he continued "we will contribute to the implementation of a ‘digital product passport’ for organic fertilizers, so as to ensure traceability along the entire supply and production chain, thus optimizing the use of different organic residues, based on the principles of the circular economy.
The project will develop innovative nutrient recovery technologies for bio-based fertilizer production. Additionally, it will focus on the creation of next-generation coatings based on chitosan and microalgae, capable of improving efficiency through controlled nutrient release mechanisms. Thus, LANDFEED will contribute to more efficient fertilizer management, optimizing yields, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing the impact on water resources, and promoting the restoration of soil health by improving its biodiversity.
The project includes five European case studies each examining different types and treatments of organic waste.. The Italian pilot project will be conducted in Sicily by the University of Catania, in collaboration with ENEA, and will focus on a mix of wastes including sludge from wastewater treatment plants (industrial and non-industrial) and freshwater fish farms, residues from microalgae cultivation, and digestate obtained from agricultural residues. Alongside these, industrial by-products from orange processing and volcanic ash from Mount Etna, a residue rich in useful minerals for the soil, will be included “All these residues, despite their different nature, will be treated using a sustainable method that will allow them to be transformed into a useful product for agriculture, within an industrial symbiosis system that optimizes the use of available resources, minimizing their environmental impact,” Luciano concluded.
In the EU, Nearly 60 million tons of food waste are generated annualy, with significant environmental, social and economic impacts. The EU has implemented various strategies to tackle food waste, aiming to halve food waste by 2030 and reduce losses throughout the production and supply chain.
In addition, ENEA organized and partecipated in the following thematic conferences:
Driving the circular transition: innovation, sustainability and evaluation methods
(participants Claudia Brunori, Head of the ENEA Circularity Sustainability and Climate Change Adaptation of Productive and Territorial Systems Department, Antonella Luciano and Laura Cutaia, ENEA Circular Economy Division)
(participants Luigi Petta, ENEA Laboratory Technologies for Circular Management of Water and Wastewater)
(participants Laura Cutaia, Marco La Monica, Antonella Luciano and Pier Luigi La Porta, ENEA Circular Economy Divisio)
(participants Claudia Brunori, Head of ENEA Circular Sustainability and Climate Change Adaptation of Productive and Territorial Systems Department, Antonella Luciano, ENEA Circular Economy Division)