Journal article
Can Direct Conversion of Used Nitrogen to New Feed and Protein Help Feed the World?
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Vol.49(9), pp.5247-5254
2015
DOI: 10.1021/es505432w
Abstract
The increase in the world population, vulnerability of conventional crop production to climate change, and population shifts to megacities justify a re-examination of current methods of converting reactive nitrogen to dinitrogen gas in sewage and waste treatment plants. Indeed, by upgrading treatment plants to factories in which the incoming materials are first deconstructed to units such as ammonia, carbon dioxide and clean minerals, one can implement a highly intensive and efficient microbial resynthesis process in which the used nitrogen is harvested as microbial protein (at efficiencies close to 100%). This can be used for animal feed and food purposes. The technology for recovery of reactive nitrogen as microbial protein is available but a change of mindset needs to be achieved to make such recovery acceptable.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Can Direct Conversion of Used Nitrogen to New Feed and Protein Help Feed the World?
- Creators
- S Matassa - Ghent UniversityD J Batstone - University of QueenslandT Hulsen - University of QueenslandJ Schnoor - University of IowaW Verstraete - Ghent University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Vol.49(9), pp.5247-5254
- DOI
- 10.1021/es505432w
- ISSN
- 1520-5851
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100011126, name: Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa; DOI: 10.13039/501100004385, name: Universiteit Gent, award: 01 MRA 510 W
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2015
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering; Occupational and Environmental Health
- Record Identifier
- 9984231900702771
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