Project description
Turning food waste into fertiliser
Studies show that food waste is one of the least recovered materials in a community’s solid waste stream. Unfortunately, food waste that decomposes in landfills creates methane, which contributes to climate change. One solution is to turn this waste into fertiliser. With this in mind, the EU-funded RUSTICA project is focussing on fruits and vegetables, aiming to develop the technology to convert organic residues from this sector into novel bio-based fertiliser products. The technical solution consists of five conversion processes (carboxylic acid production, microbial biomass production, electrodialysis, insect breeding and biochar production), which can be combined depending on the available waste streams and integrated with state-of-the-art technologies such as composting.
Objective
The RUSTICA projects provides a technical solution to convert organic residues from the fruit and vegetable sector into
novel bio-based fertiliser products of high quality that address the needs of modern (organic) agriculture. The project’s
ambition goes beyond the simple recovery of nutrients, and also includes the developments of economically viable and
environmentally sustainable alternatives to mineral fertilisers with the same or improved agronomic value. The technical
solution consists of 5 conversion processes (carboxylic acid platform, microbial biomass production, electrodialysis, insect
breeding and biochar production) which can be combined depending on the available waste streams, and integrated with
state-of-the-art technologies such as composting. Synergies between the individual conversion processes will be sought and
optimized to maximize economic and environmental benefits, and the processes will be demonstrated at TRL7. The resulting
ingredients (microbial biomass, mineral nutrient concentrates, insect biomass, insect frass, insect chitin, biochar) will be
combined to obtain tailor made fertiliser products adapted to specific crop needs.
Parallel with this technological innovation and integration, a multi-actor approach guarantees the implementation potential of
the technologies in the agro-food chain, and will lead to sound business models. Several non-technical aspects
(environmental and social LCA, legal framework, expected market developments...) will be evaluated in 4 European regions
and 1 region in Colombia. Stakeholder involvement at each step guarantees the development of marketable end-products
for the fruit and vegetable sector, with a high replication potential to other agricultural sectors. Cooperation with other EUfunded
projects working on nutrient recovery from other waste products will stimulate a joint solution to evolve towards a
sustainable and circular fertiliser management to close nutrient cycles within and between regions
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
- engineering and technology chemical engineering separation technologies desalination electrodialysis
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.3.2. - SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3.2.1.1. - Increasing production efficiency and coping with climate change, while ensuring sustainability and resilience
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H2020-EU.3.2.4.1. - Fostering the bio-economy for bio-based industries
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
IA - Innovation action
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-RUR-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.