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Establishment of Changes in the System “Soil-Fertilizer-Plant” as a Result of Fertilization with Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plant

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Energy Solutions to Combat Global Warming

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Energy ((LNEN,volume 33))

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are based on natural processes and provide organic carbon, nutrients and pathogenic microorganisms from wastewater. Wastewater treatment generates significant amount of greenhouse gases mainly methane and nitrous oxide. Reducing these emissions from the treatment process and the contribution of the wastewater treatment (WWT) processes to global warming are major concerns. On the other hand, WWTPs allow recovering energy, and nutrients, thus the reuse of treated wastewater in developing and developed countries can be appropriated (Anastasios and Athanasia, Managing water resources under climate uncertainty, pp 197–220, 2015; Casey, Greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants get closer scrutiny. Scientific American, 2010; Gallaher, Global mitigation of non CO2 greenhouse gases. Section-III, Waste, 2006; Gupta and Singh, J Water Sustain 2(2):131–139, 2012; Plósz et al., Water Sci Technol 60(2):533–541, 2009) [1, 2, 7, 9, 28]. Under intensive use of chemical fertilizer, the balance of organic matter is disturbed and chemical and physical properties of soil are degraded. To maintain and improve soil fertility it is necessary to import organic fertilizer periodically. Incorporation of organic material contributes to the increase of soil organic matter and preserves the quality and quantity of soil nitrogen. The lack of organic fertilizers requires seeking of alternative options. Such reserve is sludge obtained during biological wastewater treatment. Despite the existence of legislation on the use of sludge in agricultural practice, there is still mistrust among farmers for their use. The aim of the study is to establish the changes in system “soil-fertilizer-plant” as a result of fertilization with sludge. In 2006 and 2007 on selected arrays of cultivated soils of Sofia region, sludge from WWTP—Kubratovo as soil improver, accordance with the legislation was imported. Crops are corn and sunflower. The rate of sludge was calculated on the basis of chemical analysis for nitrogen content, soil differences, requirements of crops, etc. In 2013 (after 5–6 years of cultivation) the same arrays are taken as average samples and analyzed for the same chemical properties. During the whole period in this area the chemical fertilizer is not imported. The results found that the use of sludge as a soil improver does not represent environmental risk and can be used in agricultural practice to maintain and improve soil fertility and crop yields, according to legal requirements

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Abbreviations

mg/kg:

Milligram per kilogram

MAC:

Maximum admissible concentrations

WWTP:

Wastewater treatment plants

DM:

Dry matter %

N–NH3 :

Ammoniac nitrogen

N–NO3 :

Nitrate nitrogen

S–SO4 :

Sulphur sulfate

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their appreciation to the Bulgarian National Science Fund for financial support in the frame of Scientific project FFNIPO_12_01283: “Ecology of agro-ecological systems and increase efficiency by applying a revised bio organic waste from fertilization, introduction of energy plants and complex utilization of biomass as an energy carrier” (Contract SFSR—E01/3 from 27.11.2012).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil Science Agrochemistry and Plant Protection “N. Poushkarov”, 7 Shosse Bankia Street, 1080, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Elena Zlatareva, Svetla Marinova, Bayko Baykov, Totka Mitova, Vera Petrova & Viktor Kolchakov

Authors
  1. Elena Zlatareva
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  2. Svetla Marinova
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  3. Bayko Baykov
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  4. Totka Mitova
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  5. Vera Petrova
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  6. Viktor Kolchakov
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elena Zlatareva .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China

    XinRong Zhang

  2. Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ontario, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada

    Ibrahim Dincer

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Zlatareva, E., Marinova, S., Baykov, B., Mitova, T., Petrova, V., Kolchakov, V. (2017). Establishment of Changes in the System “Soil-Fertilizer-Plant” as a Result of Fertilization with Sludge from Wastewater Treatment Plant. In: Zhang, X., Dincer, I. (eds) Energy Solutions to Combat Global Warming. Lecture Notes in Energy, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26950-4_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26950-4_17

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