Turning urine into GOLD | Science Nation
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- čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
- Engineering a system that transforms human urine from a waste product into a fertilizer for more sustainable agriculture
This sustainable agriculture research relies on a unique contribution from humans -- urine. And, once you get beyond the "giggle" factor, it's an idea that is proving itself worthy of investigation.
Fertilizer is made of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus that require energy to produce. Human urine is full of those same nutrients, but we literally flush them down the toilet. With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), University of Michigan environmental engineer Nancy Love and a team that includes the non-profit, Rich Earth Institute, are fine-tuning new methods to process human urine into fertilizer. The team wants to create a more sustainable fertilizer while at the same time eliminating a waste that contributes to water pollution.
The research in this episode was supported by NSF award #1639244, INFEWS/Track 3: Advancing Technologies and Improving Communication of Urine-Derived Fertilizers for Food Production within a Risk-Based Framework. The INFEWS - Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy and Water Systems -- awards aim to help decision makers better address human needs and protect the natural world. The INFEWS goals for scientists and policy makers include a new understanding of the food-energy-water system, insights from innovative modeling, and cutting-edge technologies to reduce waste and increase efficiencies.
NSF Grant URL: www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showA...
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Kate Tobin, Science Nation Producer - Věda a technologie
I’m PISSED that we are not already using it.
Science is going old school. Finally catching up?
We're finally catching up with Chinese agriculture of the nineteenth century. I
Now just do Japanese agriculture and fertilize with "night soil".
Ahh So!
I’ve been growing small scale food since 2019 with urine…. I pee into a bottle and store it in my fridge and then add it to water at about 1/2 cup per gallon. I also use other fertilizer like my own homemade liquid seaweed, so it is more of a boost than a sole source, but I get good results… cheers.
You may want to compost the urine with rotted leaves for up to a year, in order to let microbes convert it.
I use ours in my garden. We don’t take pharmaceuticals or use drugs so it works well for us. Hey free fertilizer! What’s not to love?
I have just started using this for the garden,excited to see how it works
Fermenting the urine would be loads better than pasteurization
How long does it r need to sit in a bottle?
Don't that reduce the nitrogen content?
I've heard you should compost it with rotted leaves and let the microbes work for 6-12 months
Excellent !! How does one do it for the terrace garden? How can we test its good for the soil? I definitely would want to start recycling urine.
Wow, that's exciting and impressive........Hope this continues to grow......ho...
How do you deal with the salts in the urine?
I keep my piss. I want to evaporate all the water out and keep the salt crystals. Then I hope to achieve an algae bloom...I had this idea long ago but people get in my way and disrupt my progress. You could make an organic fertilizer made from the dried out algae or biodiesel
Hey Hey!
Do you know how to estimate the nitrogen & phosphate rate per litre of urine?
Nice information. thanks
So, then... the questions poses what are they doing to the waste that is filtered from the urine? Where then does that go?
Saving urine diluted for my plants needing nitrogen.
They need to process is using microbes that can absorb the pharmaceuticals and be filtered out.
One method I saw was using leaf mold to convert and compost the urine.
Another issue is, small plants are sensitive to salt (sodium) in Urine. Its better to use straight urine on trees, beause they can handle the sodium.
One way to sterilize the soil us to salt it. Not much can grow in salted soil. Around my place, i pee where i want to kill weeds.
I'm really pissed off that I can't use my urine for fertilizer because I take prescription medication on a daily basis!
Are pathogens really a issue,
I'm talking of ground watering , I'm wondering too if a sort of symbiosis between plants and people could occur as well with plants producing things in them to combat any pathogens detected from human urine, then you eat that plant and it becomes a natural medicine as well.
Urine from a healthy human is totally sterile! Don't believe that? Ask your doctor.
Do you really wonder what the ancients were thinking when they looked at it for a versatile use, if any?
The lettuce they sold at the corner farmers market!!
Hahaha I have the same tractor
Chlorine Dioxide might be something that could neutralize pharmaceuticals.
Can you please make a video on how processed hairs (humans and animals) can be used as a very productive natural fertilizer. Indian politician Nitin Gadkari has created a 180 crore or $22M/year busines by even exporting this fertilizer to middle east. It's also used actively in some countries in Africa as this "gross" idea is gaining popularity.
You can learn more about this by searching for "human hair fertilizer" in youtube search. It's not a joke or inhuman, but I will appreciate if you can make a dedicated video on this topic.
Haven't watched yet but do they just burn the hair for ash?
CLO2 WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM
Stop the pharmaceutical madness by eliminating their need.
The widespread adoption of a whole foods plant based diet will dramatically reduce the need for cholesterol, diabetes and blood pressure management medications.
Big pharma now controls the whole world by the imposing of their mandatory concoctions to the populous. Now what to do with the mountains of useless masks polluting our environment?
Cmon seriously? There's a million different health conditions which don't just dissapear from adopting a healthy diet. Way to minimise and oversimplfy the problem. Some people have genetic conditions, disabilities, loss of limbs and chronic pain, muscleskeetal disorders, multiple sclerosis, auto immune disorders and some of those people are already eating whole foods and plant based diets which by the way can cause anemia in some people, myself included and yet none of that eliminates the need for medications.
. THE MORE YOU CRY
. THE LESS YOU PEE ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Stop wasting water, stop crying, no one cares
Poop works better.