Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Green Fertilizers from Crustacean Shell Waste
EPA Grant Number: SU839300Title: Green Fertilizers from Crustacean Shell Waste
Investigators: Wong, Hsi-Wu , Bizilj, William C , Aguilar, Jonathan , Nallar, Melisa , Tenaglia, Nicholas , Gauntlett, Olivia , Yu, Peng
Institution: University of Massachusetts - Lowell
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: February 1, 2018 through January 31, 2019
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2017) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Chemical Safety
Objective:
The objective of this project is to develop a hydrothermal reaction process that produces renewable fertilizers or soil amendments from seafood wastes, particularly crustacean shell waste that is widely available in the New England area. Crustacean shell waste presents a critical economic and environmental challenge for the local seafood processing community due to the cost and carbon dioxide emissions associated with waste transportation for landfill. On the other hand, petroleum-derived synthetic fertilizers are an environmental concern due to the potential nitrate contamination in groundwater and the large energy consumption of ammonia production. Our innovation aims to simultaneously solve both problems: reduction of crustacean shell waste for landfill and production of high-value, nitrogen- rich bio-solids as renewable fertilizers or soil amendments for agricultural applications.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
In the Phase I of this project, a laboratory-scale hydrothermal reactor was designed and built. Bio-solids of greater than 65% yields were obtained from two different reaction times at 250 oC. The collected bio-solids were used in the growth studies of Wisconsin Fast Plants to evaluate their performance as a fertilizer or soil amendment. It was found that the plants grown in the soils fertilized with our produced bio-solids were on average taller than those grown in the soils without any fertilization/amendment. A simple energy and economic analysis shows that the cost to produce bio-solids from our proposed process can be as low as $53 per ton, less than the typical crustacean waste disposal fee of $150 per ton.
The Phase I preliminary findings support the hypothesis that the bio-solids produced from hydrothermal conversion of crustacean shell waste have the potential to be a good fertilizer or soil amendment. Our innovation could lead to significant societal (people), economic (prosperity), and environmental (planet) impacts:
Societal (people): healthy and sustainable communities will be promoted, as well as next generation scientists and engineers will be trained to solve real-world sustainability problems with team members of diverse backgrounds.
Economic (prosperity): a new revenue stream for the local fishing and seafood processing industries will be generated while saving the waste disposal and handling fees, creating new job opportunities for local seafood companies and reducing the global energy cost for the production of ammonia as a fertilizer precursor.
Environmental (planet): the amount of crustacean shell waste sent for landfill and associated methane emissions will be reduced, as well as carbon dioxide emissions due to waste transportation and groundwater contamination due to the usage of synthetic fertilizers.
Conclusions:
Our preliminary Phase I progress demonstrates that hydrothermal treatment has the potential to convert crustacean shell waste into bio-solids as fertilizers or soil amendments with a reasonable energetic and financial cost. The proposed technology has significant impacts on all three pillars of sustainability, directly contributing to EPA's vision to progress protection of human health and the environment.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies: The main objective of the proposed Phase II project is to further advance our Phase I hydrothermal reaction technology, where a full prototype reaction process will be developed and tested. This prototype hydrothermal system will serve as the foundation for future scale-up and commercialization of the process. To accomplish this objective, the following four tasks are proposed for the Phase II project:
- Design and construct a full prototype process of the proposed hydrothermal system
- Determine the effects of operation parameters and feedstock properties on the yields and properties of the bio-solids and other value added products produced from the system;
- Evaluate the performance of the produced bio-solids as fertilizers or soil amendments for the growth of a wide variety of plants;
- Perform full-scale energy and economic analysis of the process.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Seafood Waste; Waste Upcycling; Hydrothermal Treatment; Green Chemistry; Energy Efficiency; Food-Energy-Water NexusRelevant Websites:
UMass Sustainable Seafood Collaboratory Exit
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.